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How much data can I retrieve with my APIKey?

Every API Key comes with the ability to run a certain number of requests for data from the APIs. Quotas, meaning the number of requests run, are reset every seven days. You can view the quotas and throttling rates of our suite of APIs below. Quota limits are unique to each API, there is not a single global setting for a given APIKey. If you find that the quota of a particular API is not enough for your project needs, please write API Support with:



Additionally, access to specialized APIs is not enabled by default, as use cases for specialized APIs require review from Elsevier’s API Support team. API Support cannot guarantee permission to use access-controlled APIs. The access-controlled APIs include:



If you would like to request access to one of these access-controlled APIs, please write API Support with the following information:



How do I check my quota?

You can look to the following response headers to check your quota:

Review quota using the following response headers:

X-RateLimit-Limit       <----Shows API quota setting
X-RateLimit-Remaining   <----Shows API remaining quota
X-RateLimit-Reset       1234567891 <----Date/Time in Epoch seconds when API quota resets

What should I do when I get a http 429 TOO MANY REQUESTS Error?

There are two possible reasons that you are experiencing a 429 error. If the quota is exceeded, X-RateLimit-Limit and X-RateLimit-Remaining don’t return. Instead, the APIs deliver an http 429 TOO MANY REQUESTS msg, along with the following response headers:

X-ELS-Status            QUOTA_EXCEEDED - Quota Exceeded
X-RateLimit-Reset       1234567891 <----Date/Time in Epoch seconds

Alternately, if requests exceed the throttling rate, the APIs also return an http 429 TOO MANY REQUESTS msg

Throttling Rates are listed in the table below in column requests/second. If requests exceed the throttling rate, the APIs also return an http 429 TOO MANY REQUESTS msg

API Name Views Weekly Quota Requests per second
Serial Title STANDARD, COVERIMAGE, ENHANCED
Default 25 results / Max 200 results
20,000 6
Citations Count Metadata STANDARD view Default
25 results / Max 200 results
50,000 10
Subject Classifications STANDARD view
Default 25 results / Max 200 results
N/A N/A
Abstract Retrieval All views, default FULL view 10,000 9
Affiliation Retrieval All views, default STANDARD view 5,000 9
Author Retrieval All views, default STANDARD view 5,000 3
Affiliation Search Default 25 results / Max 200 results
5000 item result limit
5,000 6
Author Search Default 25 results / Max 200 results
5000 item result limit
5,000 2
Scopus Search STANDARD view / Max 200 results
COMPLETE view / Max 25 results
COMPONENT view / Max 25 results
5000 item total result limit without ‘cursor pagination’ explained in Q4 of FAQ
20,000 9

API Name Views Weekly Quota Requests per second
Serial Title STANDARD, COVERIMAGE views
Default 25 results / Max 200 results
20,000 6
Nonserial Title STANDARD, COVERIMAGE views
Default 25 results / Max 200 results
20,000 6
Subject Classifications No restrictions No restrictions N/A
Article Retrieval All Subscribed, OpenAccess and Complimentary Articles 50,000 Unlimited for Text Mining API Keys 10
Article Metadata API 25 results- a field restricted search against ScienceDirect serial/nonserial full-text articles
6000 item total results limit
N/A 6
ScienceDirect Search v2 STANDARD view / Max 200 results
6000 item total results limit
20,000 2

API Name Views Weekly Quota Requests per second
SciVal Author Lookup Default 100 results / Max 500 results *5000 6
SciVal Country Lookup Maximum 100 results for Metrics resource
No limit on total results (varies by resource)
*5000 6
SciVal Country Group Lookup Maximum 100 results for Metrics resource
No limit on total results (varies by resource)
*5000 6
SciVal Institution Lookup Maximum 100 results for Metrics resource
No limit on total results (varies by resource)
*5000 6
SciVal Institution Group Lookup Maximum 100 results for Metrics resource
No limit on total results (varies by resource)
*5000 6
SciVal Publication Lookup Maximum 100 results for Metrics resource
No limit on total results (varies by resource)
*5000 6
SciVal Scopus Source Lookup Maximum 100 results for Metrics resource
No limit on total results (varies by resource)
*5000 6
SciVal Subject Area Maximum 100 results for Metrics resource
No limit on total results (varies by resource)
*5000 6
SciVal Topic Lookup Maximum 100 results for Metrics resource
No limit on total results (varies by resource)
*5000 6
SciVal Topic Cluster Lookup Maximum 100 results for Metrics resource
No limit on total results (varies by resource)
*5000 6
SciVal World Lookup Maximum 100 results for Metric resource
No limit on total results (varies by resource)
*5000 6

API Name Views Weekly Quota Requests per second
Scopus Citation Overview STANDARD view
Default 25 results / Max 200 results
20,000 4
Scopus Author Feedback N/A N/A N/A
ScienceDirect Full-Text Entitlement N/A N/A 6
ScienceDirect Article Hosting Permissions Provides open access information for a single full text article N/A 6
ScienceDirect Holdings Report N/A N/A 2
Embase Search Default 25 results
No limit on total results
N/A 6
Embase Retrieval 1 document per request N/A 6
Engineering Village Search Default 25 results N/A N/A
Engineering Village Retrieval 1 document per request N/A N/A
GeoFacets API Default 25 results N/A 10
Pharmapendium API Variable, depending on request N/A 6
SUSHI COP5 API 1 request per metric type N/A 6