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Introduction

The ECUSTA Research Portal v2 API is a completely free, database-less abstraction layer that federates academic queries across 8 major international data providers simultaneously (OpenAlex, PubMed, arXiv, CrossRef, Semantic Scholar, DOAJ, Open Library, and NADRE).

All endpoints are open, require no authentication, and respond natively in JSON with JSONP callback support. The global rate limit is currently 60 requests per minute per IP address.

1. Federated Search ?action=search

Perform a concurrent multisearch across various academic indices.

GET https://lib.ecusta-hli.edu.et/api.php?action=search
Parameter Type Description Default
q String Required. Your search keywords. URL encode this value. None
source String Options: all, openalex, pubmed, arxiv, crossref, semanticscholar, openlibrary, doaj, nadre. all
limit Integer Total results per source (Max: 50). When source=all, this limit is distributed across providers. 10
format String Export output format. Options: json, csv, bibtex, ris. json
y_min / y_max Integer Filter results published after/in y_min and before/in y_max. None
sort String Options: relevance, date_desc, citations. relevance

Sample Request

curl -X GET "https://lib.ecusta-hli.edu.et/api.php?action=search&q=Ethiopian+Healthcare&source=pubmed&limit=2"

2. Citation Generator ?action=cite

Instantly generate perfectly formatted citations (APA, MLA, Chicago, BibTeX, RIS) resolving natively via robust CrossRef DOI metadata matching.

GET https://lib.ecusta-hli.edu.et/api.php?action=cite
Parameter Type Description
doi String The paper's Digital Object Identifier (e.g. 10.1038/s41586-020-2649-2). If provided, accurate metadata is fetched automatically.
style String Citation style. Options: apa, mla, chicago, bibtex, ris. Default: apa.

Sample Request

curl -X GET "https://lib.ecusta-hli.edu.et/api.php?action=cite&doi=10.1038/nrg3270&style=bibtex"

3. Provider Status ?action=status

Because the API is fully federated and leverages no database, you can dynamically poll upstream availability. This simultaneously sends non-blocking HEAD/GET requests to all 8 APIs and calculates realtime latency in milliseconds.

GET https://lib.ecusta-hli.edu.et/api.php?action=status