pubmed trends api

https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz

Publication trend analytics from PubMed and OpenAlex, payable per-query via x402 in USDC on Base.

Quick Reference

endpoint	price
/api/v1/explore	$0.10	Cross-domain discovery or MeSH anomaly detection
/api/v1/emerging	$0.05	Topics with accelerating multi-year growth
/api/v1/hottest-weekly	$0.05	Topics spiking this week vs recent average
/api/v1/trending-subtopics	$0.05	Rising sub-topics within a research field
/api/v1/trends	$0.01	Year-by-year publication counts and analytics
/api/v1/compare	$0.02	Compare trends across 2-5 terms
/api/v1/pulse	$0.02	7d/30d/90d publication volume with YoY change
/api/v1/snapshot	$0.01	Single-year publication count
/api/v1/keypapers	$0.03	Scored key papers for a query
/api/v1/digest	$0.08	Key papers + MeSH landscape + frequent authors
/api/v1/author	$0.02	Researcher profile from OpenAlex

Choosing the Right Endpoint

question	endpoint
What's interesting? (no prior knowledge)	`/explore` — cross-domain discovery
What's growing fast from a small base?	`/emerging` — CAGR over 3 years, catches new/niche fields
What's spiking right now?	`/hottest-weekly` — current vs last year pace, any field size
What sub-topics within this field are rising?	`/trending-subtopics` — intra-field growth from OpenAlex
How has this topic evolved over time?	`/trends` — year-by-year counts and analytics
How do these topics compare?	`/compare` — side-by-side trends with crossover detection
Is there a surge happening now?	`/pulse` — 7d/30d/90d volumes vs year ago
Quick count for one year?	`/snapshot` — low-cost single data point
What are the key papers?	`/keypapers` — scored by journal, type, MeSH relevance
Give me the full picture	`/digest` — papers + MeSH + authors in one call
Who is this researcher?	`/author` — h-index, works, topics, institution

/emerging works best for niche/new topics. Returns empty for mature fields — use /hottest-weekly instead. When source=openalex, both accept free-text topic searches.

Discovery

GET /api/v1/explore$0.10

Cross-domain discovery or MeSH anomaly detection. Two modes based on topics param.

param	required	default
topics	no		Comma-separated domains, max 4. Present: OpenAlex. Absent: MeSH anomalies
limit	no	5	Max results (1-20)
min_z_score	no	2.0	Z-score threshold (anomaly mode only)
days	no	7	Recent window, 1-30 (anomaly mode only)

example (topics mode)

GET /api/v1/explore?topics=neurodegeneration,epigenetics&limit=5

response (topics mode)

{ "results": [ { "term": "Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Therapy", "category": "neurodegeneration", "spike_ratio": 2.48, "cagr_3y": 0.15, "explore_score": 2.852, "latest_year_count": 1200, "trend_direction": "growing" } ], "topics_scanned": ["neurodegeneration", "epigenetics"], "as_of": "2026-02-22" }

example (anomaly mode)

GET /api/v1/explore?limit=3

response (anomaly mode)

{ "results": [ { "term": "Cardiac Digital Twin", "z_score": 4.2, "recent_weekly": 31, "baseline_weekly": 8.4, "spike_ratio": 3.69 } ], "method": "mesh_anomaly", "baseline_days": 90, "as_of": "2026-02-21" }

GET /api/v1/emerging$0.05

Topics with accelerating publication rates. Use category for PubMed mode (default) or topic + source=openalex for free-text search.

param	required	default
category	no		oncology, neuroscience, immunology, gene therapy, cardiology. Required for PubMed mode
topic	no		Free-text search. Required for OpenAlex mode
source	no	pubmed	pubmed or openalex
window_years	no	3	Years to evaluate
min_growth_rate	no	1.0 / 0.3	Min CAGR (PubMed / OpenAlex default)
limit	no	10	Max results

example (PubMed)

GET /api/v1/emerging?category=oncology&min_growth_rate=0.5

example (OpenAlex)

GET /api/v1/emerging?topic=CRISPR&source=openalex

GET /api/v1/hottest-weekly$0.05

Topics ranked by spike ratio (last 7d vs 30d weekly average). Use category for PubMed mode (default) or topic + source=openalex for free-text search.

param	required	default
category	no		oncology, neuroscience, immunology, gene therapy, cardiology. Required for PubMed mode
topic	no		Free-text search. Required for OpenAlex mode
source	no	pubmed	pubmed or openalex

example (PubMed)

GET /api/v1/hottest-weekly?category=oncology

example (OpenAlex)

GET /api/v1/hottest-weekly?topic=microbiome&source=openalex

response

{ "category": "oncology", "hottest": [ { "term": "KRAS inhibitor", "last_7d": 31, "weekly_avg_30d": 20.98, "spike_ratio": 1.478 } ], "as_of": "2026-02-13" }

GET /api/v1/trending-subtopics$0.05

Rising sub-topics within a research field, powered by OpenAlex topic breakdowns.

param	required	default
query	yes		Free-text search defining the field
limit	no	10	Max results (1-25)
window	no	3	Years of history (2-5)

example

GET /api/v1/trending-subtopics?query=ulcerative+colitis&limit=10

response

{ "query": "ulcerative colitis", "window_years": 3, "results": [ { "topic_id": "T13569", "topic_name": "Microscopic Colitis", "counts": { "2022": 276, "2023": 301, "2024": 335 }, "cagr": 0.102, "trend_direction": "growing", "latest_year_count": 335, "growth_score": 0.257 } ], "total_topics_found": 162, "as_of": "2026-02-22" }

Analysis

GET /api/v1/trends$0.01

Year-by-year publication counts and growth analytics for a search query.

param	required	default
query	yes		PubMed search query
start_year	no	-10y	First year
end_year	no	now	Last year

example

GET /api/v1/trends?query=CRISPR&start_year=2018&end_year=2025

response

{ "query": "CRISPR", "start_year": 2018, "end_year": 2025, "total_results": 48523, "data": [ { "year": 2024, "count": 8764, "total_pubmed": 1737687, "proportion": 0.00504, "yoy_growth": 0.074 } ], "analytics": { "peak_year": 2024, "peak_count": 8764, "cagr": 0.052, "trend_direction": "growing", "acceleration": 0 } }

GET /api/v1/compare$0.02

Compare publication trends across 2-5 terms with growth ranking and crossover detection.

param	required	default
terms	yes		Comma-separated, 2-5 terms
start_year	no	-10y	First year
end_year	no	now	Last year

example

GET /api/v1/compare?terms=CAR-T,bispecific+antibodies&start_year=2018

GET /api/v1/pulse$0.02

Recent publication volume (7d/30d/90d) with year-over-year change.

param	required	default
query	yes		PubMed search query

example

GET /api/v1/pulse?query=CRISPR

response

{ "query": "CRISPR", "current": { "7d": 312, "30d": 957, "90d": 2778 }, "year_ago": { "7d": 176, "30d": 705, "90d": 2046 }, "change": { "7d": 0.773, "30d": 0.357, "90d": 0.358 }, "as_of": "2026-02-13" }

GET /api/v1/snapshot$0.01

Single-year publication count for quick lookups.

param	required	default
query	yes		PubMed search query
year	no	now	Year to count

example

GET /api/v1/snapshot?query=mRNA+vaccine&year=2025

response

{ "query": "mRNA vaccine", "year": 2025, "count": 4521, "total_pubmed": 1880997, "proportion": 0.002403 }

Papers

GET /api/v1/keypapers$0.03

Scored key papers ranked by journal prestige, publication type, MeSH relevance, and cross-strategy hits.

param	required	default
query	yes		PubMed search query
start_year	no	-5y	First year
end_year	no	now	Last year

example

GET /api/v1/keypapers?query=base+editing&start_year=2023&end_year=2025

response

{ "query": "base editing", "start_year": 2023, "end_year": 2025, "papers": [ { "pmid": "38291045", "title": "Therapeutic base editing in vivo...", "journal": "Nature", "pub_year": 2024, "pub_type": "research", "score": 8, "score_breakdown": { "top_journal": 3, "review_or_trial": 0, "mesh_major_topic": 2, "multi_strategy_hit": 1, "relevance_rank": 2 } } ] }

GET /api/v1/digest$0.08

Full research digest: scored papers + MeSH landscape + frequent authors.

param	required	default
query	yes		PubMed search query
start_year	no	-5y	First year
end_year	no	now	Last year

example

GET /api/v1/digest?query=base+editing&start_year=2023&end_year=2025

response

{ "query": "base editing", "papers": [ { "pmid": "38291045", "title": "Therapeutic base editing in vivo...", "journal": "Nature", "pub_year": 2024, "score": 8 } ], "mesh_terms": ["Base Editing", "CRISPR-Cas Systems", "Gene Editing"], "authors": [{ "name": "David Liu", "appearances": 4 }] }

People

GET /api/v1/author$0.02

Researcher profile from OpenAlex. Provide either name or orcid.

param	required	default
name	no		Author name search
orcid	no		ORCID identifier

One of name or orcid is required.

example

GET /api/v1/author?name=David+Liu

response

{ "name": "David R. Liu", "orcid": "0000-0002-9943-7557", "works_count": 432, "cited_by_count": 98234, "h_index": 142, "i10_index": 298, "current_institution": { "name": "Harvard University", "country": "US" }, "top_topics": [ { "name": "CRISPR Gene Editing", "count": 87 } ], "counts_by_year": [ { "year": 2025, "works": 18, "cited_by": 12450 } ] }

Payment

All /api/v1/* routes return 402 without a valid payment. Your x402 client reads the payment requirements from the response, signs a USDC transfer on Base, and retries with an X-PAYMENT header.

awal x402 pay "https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/trends?query=CRISPR"

Or programmatically with @x402/fetch.

Example Workflows

Trend-to-Papers Deep Dive ($0.09–$0.11)

Step 1 — Call /trends or /pulse ($0.01–$0.02) to identify a trend.

Step 2 — Call /digest ($0.08) for scored papers, MeSH landscape, and authors.

Step 3 — Pass returned PMIDs to PubMed MCP get_article_metadata for full abstracts.

Weekly Research Briefing ($0.29)

Step 1 — Call /hottest-weekly for all 5 categories ($0.25) to find spiking topics.

Step 2 — Call /pulse on the 2 standout topics ($0.04) for year-over-year context.

Step 3 — Synthesize into a briefing.

See more examples with real API response data →

Errors

status
400	Missing or invalid parameters
402	Payment required
502	Upstream API error (NCBI or OpenAlex)

Categories

Valid values for category in /emerging and /hottest-weekly (PubMed mode):

oncology: CAR-T cell therapy, bispecific antibodies, antibody drug conjugate, immune checkpoint inhibitor, ctDNA liquid biopsy, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, oncolytic virus therapy, cancer neoantigen vaccine, KRAS inhibitor, CDK4/6 inhibitor, PARP inhibitor, radiopharmaceutical therapy, chimeric antigen receptor NK cell, cancer organoid, spatial transcriptomics cancer, ctDNA minimal residual disease, tumor treating fields, cancer ferroptosis, circular RNA cancer biomarker, artificial intelligence drug resistance cancer, single cell proteomics tumor, cancer extracellular vesicle liquid biopsy, photoimmunotherapy cancer, PROTAC degrader oncology, tumor microbiome

neuroscience: anti-amyloid antibody, tau PET imaging, CGRP antagonist migraine, deep brain stimulation, brain-computer interface, optogenetics therapy, antisense oligonucleotide neurodegeneration, psychedelic assisted psychotherapy, GLP-1 agonist neurodegeneration, alpha-synuclein antibody, gene therapy spinal muscular atrophy, focused ultrasound brain, neuroinflammation biomarker, digital phenotyping mental health, closed-loop neurostimulation, focused ultrasound blood brain barrier, psychedelic neuroplasticity, gut brain axis microbiome, AI drug discovery neurodegeneration, digital biomarker cognition, brain organoid disease model, glymphatic system sleep, CRISPR neurological disorder, senolytic neurodegeneration, neuroimmune interaction microglia

immunology: mRNA vaccine, CAR-T autoimmune, regulatory T cell therapy, IL-17 inhibitor, JAK inhibitor, bispecific antibody autoimmune, tolerogenic dendritic cell, complement inhibitor, microbiome immunotherapy, IgG4 related disease, thymic stromal lymphopoietin, chimeric autoantibody receptor, B cell depletion autoimmune, innate lymphoid cell, trained immunity, mRNA cancer vaccine, CRISPR T cell engineering, IL-33 pathway, trained immunity epigenetic, immune checkpoint autoimmune, single cell immune profiling, nanoparticle vaccine adjuvant, mucosal immunity mRNA, immune aging immunosenescence, spatial transcriptomics immune

gene therapy: CRISPR gene editing, base editing, prime editing, AAV gene therapy, lipid nanoparticle mRNA, epigenome editing, in vivo gene editing, RNA interference therapeutic, gene therapy hemophilia, gene therapy sickle cell, CRISPR diagnostics, gene drive, synthetic biology therapeutic, cell-free DNA therapeutic, tRNA therapeutic, epigenetic editing, in vivo base editing, lipid nanoparticle delivery optimization, RNA editing ADAR, programmable RNA medicine, circular RNA therapeutic, self-amplifying RNA, gene therapy retinal dystrophy, meganuclease gene correction, extracellular vesicle gene delivery

cardiology: PCSK9 inhibitor, SGLT2 inhibitor heart failure, GLP-1 agonist cardiovascular, cardiac gene therapy, RNA therapeutics cardiovascular, artificial heart, transcatheter valve replacement, cardiac regeneration stem cell, lipoprotein(a) inhibitor, myosin inhibitor cardiac, cardiac digital twin, wearable ECG monitoring, AI cardiac imaging, cardiac organoid, inflammasome inhibitor cardiovascular, cardiac patch tissue engineering, AI ECG screening, gut microbiome cardiovascular, clonal hematopoiesis cardiovascular, cardiac fibrosis reversal, siRNA cardiovascular therapeutic, remote cardiac monitoring wearable, perivascular adipose tissue, cardiac reprogramming direct, CRISPR cardiovascular disease

Data from NCBI PubMed and OpenAlex. Yearly data cached 24h, daily-resolution data cached 6h.