Crossref
The Crossref collector provides technical access to DOI-based scholarly metadata and citation information from the world's largest registry of research objects.
Capabilities
How Configuration Works
All collectors in Lens adhere to a unified configuration pattern. Instead of hardcoding values, you inject parameters at runtime using the lens.config.yaml file or directly via the ResearchAgent constructor.
Dynamic Configuration
When you initialize a collector, it inspects the configuration object passed to it. This allows for flexible behavior adjustments—such as changing target languages, result limits, or API-specific flags—without modifying the core collector logic. Refer to the central Configuration Reference for the full list of supported parameters available to this collector.
Note: While Crossref is a public API, providing an email in your configuration is strongly recommended to enable "Plus" service features and better rate limit handling.
Schema Mapping
| Source Field | Lens Field | Type |
|---|---|---|
| DOI | doi | string |
| container-title | journal | string |
| is-referenced-by-count | citation_count | int |
Rate Limiting
The Crossref API allows up to 50 requests per second when a valid email is provided. Lens handles this orchestration automatically.
API Endpoint
https://api.crossref.org/v1