Europe PMC API
www.ebi.ac.uk · Health
Search 40+ million biomedical and life science literature records from PubMed, PubMed Central, and other sources. Full text available for open access articles. No API key required.
Authentication
No authentication requiredFree to use with no key needed.
Sample Requests
GET
Search literature
Search biomedical literature by keyword.
https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/rest/search?query=CRISPR gene editing&format=json&pageSize=5
Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does
curl -X GET "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/rest/search?query=CRISPR%20gene%20editing&format=json&pageSize=5"
import requests
params = {
"query": "CRISPR gene editing",
"format": "json",
"pageSize": "5"
}
response = requests.get(
"https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/rest/search",
params=params,
)
print(response.json())const url = new URL('https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/rest/search');
url.searchParams.set('query', 'CRISPR gene editing');
url.searchParams.set('format', 'json');
url.searchParams.set('pageSize', '5');
const response = await fetch(url);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);package main
import (
"fmt"
"io"
"net/http"
"net/url"
)
func main() {
baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/rest/search")
q := baseURL.Query()
q.Set("query", "CRISPR gene editing")
q.Set("format", "json")
q.Set("pageSize", "5")
baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
targetURL := baseURL.String()
req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)
client := &http.Client{}
resp, _ := client.Do(req)
defer resp.Body.Close()
body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
fmt.Println(string(body))
}require "net/http"
require "json"
uri = URI("https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/rest/search")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
"query" => "CRISPR gene editing",
"format" => "json",
"pageSize" => "5"
})
http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)<?php
$url = "https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/rest/search?" . http_build_query([
"query" => "CRISPR gene editing",
"format" => "json",
"pageSize" => "5"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
"method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));Postman Setup Guide
- No API key needed
- Try GET https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/rest/search?query=mRNA+vaccine&format=json&pageSize=5
- Add OPEN_ACCESS:y to query for free full-text only
- Get citations: /MED/{pmid}/citations/{page}/{pageSize}/json
What can you build with Europe PMC API?
Europe PMC API is a Health API. Developers commonly use health APIs for:
- accessing medical reference data and drug information
- building patient-facing health tracking apps
- integrating with EHR and telemedicine platforms
- looking up ICD codes and clinical terminology
- powering wellness and fitness applications
No authentication required. This API is open — no signup or key needed. Ideal for quick prototypes and public-facing features. Europe PMC API is free to use, making it a low-risk choice to experiment with.
New to APIs? Read our beginner's guide