Sources

The Sources endpoint represents venues where scholarly works are published — journals, conference proceedings, repositories, and ebook platforms. Each source links to its publisher, APC pricing, ISSN identifiers, and metadata about the works it contains.

Quick Start

Get a source by OpenAlex ID

from aletheca import AlethecaSession

async with AlethecaSession() as session:
    source = await session.sources.get("S137030756")  # Nature
    print(source.display_name)
    print(source.type)  # "journal"
    print(source.issn)
    print(source.is_oa)

Search for sources

from aletheca import AlethecaSession

async with AlethecaSession() as session:
    results = await session.sources.search(
        search="nature communications",
        page_size=10,
    )
    for source in results.results:
        print(f"{source.display_name} ({source.type})")

Filtering

Use SourcesFilters to construct structured filter queries:

from aletheca import AlethecaSession
from aletheca.endpoints import SourcesFilters

async with AlethecaSession() as session:
    filters = SourcesFilters(
        type="journal",
        is_oa=True,
    )
    results = await session.sources.search(filters=filters, page_size=25)

Filter by type

Source types include journal, repository, conference, ebook platform, and book series:

from aletheca import AlethecaSession
from aletheca.endpoints import SourcesFilters

async with AlethecaSession() as session:
    # Journals only
    filters = SourcesFilters(type="journal")

    # Conference proceedings
    filters = SourcesFilters(type="conference")

    # Repositories (e.g. arXiv, bioRxiv)
    filters = SourcesFilters(type="repository")

    # Ebook platforms
    filters = SourcesFilters(type="ebook platform")

ISSN lookup

from aletheca import AlethecaSession
from aletheca.endpoints import SourcesFilters

async with AlethecaSession() as session:
    # Look up by specific ISSN
    filters = SourcesFilters(issn="0028-0836")  # Nature
    results = await session.sources.search(filters=filters, page_size=1)
    if results.results:
        print(results.results[0].display_name)

    # Look up by ISSN-L (linking ISSN)
    filters = SourcesFilters(issn_l="0028-0836")

    # Filter to sources that have an ISSN
    filters = SourcesFilters(has_issn=True)

Filter by APC data

from aletheca import AlethecaSession
from aletheca.endpoints import SourcesFilters

async with AlethecaSession() as session:
    # Sources that charge an APC
    filters = SourcesFilters(has_apc=True, type="journal")
    results = await session.sources.search(filters=filters, page_size=25)
    for source in results.results:
        print(f"{source.display_name}: ${source.apc_usd}")

    # Access detailed APC pricing
    source = await session.sources.get("S137030756")
    for price in source.apc_prices:
        print(f"  {price.currency}: {price.price}")

Filter by open access status

from aletheca import AlethecaSession
from aletheca.endpoints import SourcesFilters

async with AlethecaSession() as session:
    # Fully open access journals
    filters = SourcesFilters(is_oa=True, type="journal")

    # Journals indexed in DOAJ
    source = await session.sources.get("S137030756")
    print(source.is_in_doaj)

Filter by host organization (publisher)

from aletheca import AlethecaSession
from aletheca.endpoints import SourcesFilters

async with AlethecaSession() as session:
    # Sources from a specific publisher
    filters = SourcesFilters(host_organization="P4310320990")  # Springer Nature
    results = await session.sources.search(filters=filters, page_size=25)

Filter by geography

from aletheca import AlethecaSession
from aletheca.endpoints import SourcesFilters

async with AlethecaSession() as session:
    # Sources from the Global South
    filters = SourcesFilters(is_global_south=True)

    # Sources from a specific continent
    filters = SourcesFilters(continent="europe")

Iteration

from aletheca import AlethecaSession
from aletheca.endpoints import SourcesFilters

async with AlethecaSession() as session:
    filters = SourcesFilters(
        type="journal",
        is_oa=True,
        works_count_range="1000-",
    )
    async for source in session.sources.iterate(
        filters=filters,
        per_page=200,
        sort="works_count:desc",
    ):
        print(f"{source.display_name}: {source.works_count} works")

Key Fields

Field	Type	Description
`display_name`	`str \\| None`	Source display name
`type`	`str \\| None`	`journal`, `repository`, `conference`, `ebook platform`, `book series`
`issn`	`list[str]`	ISSN identifiers
`issn_l`	`str \\| None`	Linking ISSN
`is_oa`	`bool \\| None`	Whether fully open access
`is_in_doaj`	`bool \\| None`	Whether indexed in DOAJ
`apc_usd`	`int \\| None`	Article processing charge in USD
`apc_prices`	`list[APCEntry]`	Detailed APC pricing by currency
`host_organization`	`str \\| None`	Publisher OpenAlex ID
`host_organization_name`	`str \\| None`	Publisher display name
`host_organization_lineage`	`list[str]`	Publisher lineage (parent orgs)
`works_count`	`int \\| None`	Total number of works
`cited_by_count`	`int \\| None`	Total citations
`country_code`	`str \\| None`	ISO country code
`homepage_url`	`str \\| None`	Source homepage
`societies`	`list[Society]`	Associated academic societies
`counts_by_year`	`list[YearCount]`	Annual works/citations breakdown
`is_in_jstage`	`bool \\| None`	Whether the source is indexed in J-Stage
`is_in_jstage_since_year`	`int \\| None`	Year since which the source has been in J-Stage

Live API Notes

Source IDs (ids field) no longer include a fatcat key. The live API returns openalex, issn_l, issn, mag, and wikidata only. The fatcat field was removed without documentation.
The OpenAlex spec lists only 21 of the 37 fields that the live API returns. Aletheca models all live fields.

Notes

OpenAlex IDs for sources start with S (e.g. S137030756).
Source types: journal, repository, conference, ebook platform, book series.
APC data is available via apc_usd (single value) and apc_prices (detailed list).
host_organization links to the publisher entity; host_organization_lineage traces parent publishers.
The is_in_doaj flag indicates whether the journal is in the Directory of Open Access Journals.
The x_concepts field is deprecated; use topics and topic_share instead.