RESTful Operations
The Springer Nature API supports a number of different operations and return formats. These can be controlled by issuing RESTful requests to the API service at http://api.springernature.com.
Requests must always include both a Collection and a ResultFormat. The Collection identifies what repository should be searched for results and the ResultFormat indicates how data should be returned by the API. For example, in this request:
http://api.springernature.com/metadata/pam/doi/10.1007/s11276-008-0131-4?api_key=yourKeyHere
The first bold element is the Collection and the second is the ResultFormat. In this case the metadata repository is being searched and the resulting metadata should be returned in pam format. Allowable values for these parameters are listed in the table below:
| Collection | Description | ResultFormat | Description |
| meta versioned |
Stores journal articles and book chapters in new version | pam | Returns XML results with each record in PRISM Aggregator Message format (*with some additional journal- or book-specific fields not covered by PAM at this time [e.g., openAccess]) |
| jats NEW | Returns XML results with each record in JATS or BITS format, an industry-wide, structured standard for scientific articles and chapters (*"jats" used in path for each/both). | ||
| json | Returns JSON formatted results | ||
| jsonp | Returns JSON formatted results with padding | ||
| metadata | Stores journal articles and book chapters | pam | Returns XML results with each record in PRISM Aggregator Message format (*with some additional journal- or book-specific fields not covered by PAM at this time [e.g., openAccess]) |
| json | Returns JSON formatted results | ||
| jsonp | Returns JSON formatted results with padding | ||
| openaccess |
Stores open access content |
jats | Returns JATS formatted xml results (JATS for Articles, BITS for Chapters) |
| json | Returns JSON formatted metadata results | ||
| jsonp | Returns JSON formatted metadata with padding |
In the examples below, the third part of the URI path doi is a short-hand method of requesting metadata for a single article. It is equivalent to doing a query for a single DOI using the q parameter, e.g.,
http://api.springernature.com/meta/v2/jats?q=doi:10.1007/s11276-008-0131-4&api_key=yourKeyHere
http://api.springernature.com/metadata/pam?q=doi:10.1007/s11276-008-0131-4&api_key=yourKeyHere
*JATS has recently been added as a data format for meta/v2 (in addition to pam and json). "jats" is used in the request path for both JATS (journal articles) and BITS (book chapters).
There are multiple APIs that can now return "metadata" results:
- metadata: Original, general xml metadata using PAM standard (Prism Aggregate format) when "pam" format is chosen; uses prism and dc (dublincore) namespaces and elements. Also available in json. In use but fixed (i.e., no changes will be made).
- meta/v2: Based on metadata api. Has PAM standard for "pam" format but additional elements/fields added over time. Fluid api to which changes can be made. Available in pam, json, and now jats.
| method | Description |
| doi | Find a single article based on the DOI |
| issn | Find a set of articles in a single Journal ISSN |
| isbn | Find a set of chapters in a single Book ISBN |
More complex requests can be made using querystring parameters. For further information on these read the next section.