PubMed Trends API
Pay-per-query research intelligence from 37M+ PubMed articles. No API keys, no subscriptions — just USDC micropayments on Base via x402.
Base URL: https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz
Companion skill: Install x402 from coinbase/agentic-wallet-skills for payment commands.
Endpoints
GET /api/v1/snapshot — $0.01
Single-year publication count. Cheapest option for quick lookups.
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
query | Yes | — | PubMed search query |
year | No | current year | Year to query |
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/snapshot?query=CRISPR&year=2025'
Returns count, total_pubmed, proportion (share of all PubMed articles).
GET /api/v1/trends — $0.01
Year-by-year publication counts with growth analytics over a range.
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
query | Yes | — | PubMed search query |
start_year | No | current - 10 | First year |
end_year | No | current year | Last year |
source | No | pubmed | pubmed or openalex |
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/trends?query=GLP-1+agonist&start_year=2015'
Returns yearly count, yoy_growth, plus analytics: cagr, trend_direction (growing/declining/stable/emerging), peak_year, acceleration.
GET /api/v1/compare — $0.02
Compare publication trends across 2–5 search terms. Identifies which field is growing fastest and detects crossover points.
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
terms | Yes | — | Comma-separated search terms (2–5) |
start_year | No | current - 10 | First year |
end_year | No | current year | Last year |
source | No | pubmed | pubmed or openalex |
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/compare?terms=CAR-T,bispecific+antibodies,antibody+drug+conjugate'
Returns per-term series with cagr and trend_direction, plus ranking_by_growth and crossover_years (when one term overtook another).
GET /api/v1/pulse — $0.02
Real-time publication pulse with 7d/30d/90d windows and year-over-year change.
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
query | Yes | — | PubMed search query |
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/pulse?query=prime+editing'
Returns current and year_ago counts for 7d/30d/90d windows, plus change (fractional, e.g. 0.35 = 35% increase YoY).
GET /api/v1/keypapers — $0.03
Scored key papers for a query within a time window. Papers are ranked by a composite score based on journal prestige, publication type, MeSH relevance, and citation impact (via OpenAlex).
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
query | Yes | — | PubMed search query |
start_year | No | current - 5 | First year |
end_year | No | current year | Last year |
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/keypapers?query=base+editing&start_year=2023&end_year=2025'
Returns scored papers with pmid, title, journal, pub_year, pub_type, score, score_breakdown (top_journal, review_or_trial, mesh_major_topic, multi_strategy_hit, relevance_rank, citation_impact), cited_by_count, fwci (field-weighted citation impact), open_access status, and authors_enriched (name, institution, country).
GET /api/v1/digest — $0.08
Full research digest combining scored key papers, MeSH term landscape, and frequent authors. The most comprehensive single-call endpoint.
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
query | Yes | — | PubMed search query |
start_year | No | current - 5 | First year |
end_year | No | current year | Last year |
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/digest?query=NF2+schwannomatosis+treatment&start_year=2022&end_year=2025'
Returns everything from /keypapers plus mesh_terms (array of MeSH descriptors across the result set) and authors (recurring authors with appearance counts).
GET /api/v1/hottest-weekly — $0.05
Hottest topics in a category ranked by weekly spike ratio (last 7d vs 30d average). Use category for PubMed curated terms (default) or topic + source=openalex for free-text search.
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
category | Yes* | — | See categories below |
topic | Yes* | — | Free-text topic (when source=openalex) |
source | No | pubmed | pubmed or openalex |
*One of category or topic required depending on source.
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/hottest-weekly?category=oncology'
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/hottest-weekly?topic=microbiome&source=openalex'
Returns topics sorted by spike_ratio. Values >1.0 mean more activity than usual this week.
GET /api/v1/emerging — $0.05
Scan a category for topics with accelerating publication rates. Use category for PubMed curated terms (default) or topic + source=openalex for free-text search.
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
category | Yes* | — | See categories below |
topic | Yes* | — | Free-text topic (when source=openalex) |
source | No | pubmed | pubmed or openalex |
window_years | No | 3 | Years to evaluate growth |
min_growth_rate | No | 0.3 | Minimum CAGR threshold (0.3 = 30%) |
limit | No | 10 | Max results |
*One of category or topic required depending on source.
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/emerging?category=gene+therapy&min_growth_rate=0.5'
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/emerging?topic=CRISPR&source=openalex'
Returns topics meeting the growth threshold, sorted by recent_cagr.
GET /api/v1/trending-subtopics — $0.05
Discover which sub-topics within a research field are growing fastest. Uses OpenAlex topic breakdown over a multi-year window.
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
query | Yes | — | Research field to decompose |
window | No | 3 | Window size in years (2–5) |
limit | No | 10 | Max results (1–25) |
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/trending-subtopics?query=ulcerative+colitis&window=3'
Returns sub-topics with topic_id, topic_name, per-year counts, cagr, trend_direction, latest_year_count, and growth_score.
GET /api/v1/explore — $0.10
Discover interesting research signals. Two modes:
- With
topicsparam — OpenAlex multi-domain scan: searches topics, computes spike_ratio x CAGR, ranks by explore_score. - Without
topics— D1 MeSH anomaly detection: z-score anomalies from stored baselines.
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
topics | No | — | Comma-separated research topics to scan (max 4) |
limit | No | 5 | Max results (1–20) |
min_z_score | No | 2.0 | Minimum z-score for anomaly mode (without topics) |
days | No | 7 | Lookback days for anomaly mode (1–30, without topics) |
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/explore?topics=neurodegeneration,epigenetics&limit=5'
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/explore'
Returns ranked results with explore_score, spike_ratio, cagr_3y, trend_direction, and latest_year_count.
GET /api/v1/author — $0.02
Author analytics profile powered by OpenAlex. Returns citation metrics, institutional affiliation, and publication trajectory.
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
name | Yes* | — | Author name to look up |
orcid | Yes* | — | ORCID identifier (alternative to name) |
*One of name or orcid required.
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/author?name=David+Liu'
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/author?orcid=0000-0001-8277-943X'
Returns name, orcid, works_count, cited_by_count, h_index, i10_index, current_institution (name, country), top_topics, counts_by_year (works, cited_by per year).
Categories
Used by /hottest-weekly and /emerging (PubMed mode):
- oncology — CAR-T, bispecific antibodies, ADCs, checkpoint inhibitors, liquid biopsy, KRAS inhibitors, PARP inhibitors, radiopharmaceuticals, cancer vaccines, spatial transcriptomics
- neuroscience — anti-amyloid antibodies, brain-computer interfaces, psychedelic therapy, GLP-1 neurodegeneration, antisense oligonucleotides, deep brain stimulation
- immunology — mRNA vaccines, CAR-T autoimmune, JAK inhibitors, regulatory T cells, microbiome immunotherapy, complement inhibitors
- gene therapy — CRISPR, base editing, prime editing, AAV gene therapy, lipid nanoparticle mRNA, epigenome editing, RNA interference
- cardiology — PCSK9 inhibitors, SGLT2 inhibitors, cardiac gene therapy, lipoprotein(a) inhibitors, AI cardiac imaging, wearable ECG
Free Endpoints
These do not require payment:
GET /— Service info and pricingGET /health— Health checkGET /docs— Interactive documentation (HTML, or Markdown withAccept: text/markdown)GET /llms.txt— Machine-readable documentation
Example Workflows
Quick fact check ($0.01):
"How much CRISPR research was published in 2025?"
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/snapshot?query=CRISPR&year=2025'
Technology race ($0.02):
"Is base editing overtaking traditional CRISPR?"
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/compare?terms=CRISPR+gene+editing,base+editing,prime+editing&start_year=2018'
Weekly research briefing ($0.10):
"What's spiking in oncology and neuroscience right now?"
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/hottest-weekly?category=oncology'
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/hottest-weekly?category=neuroscience'
Drug target validation ($0.03):
"Is GLP-1 for neurodegeneration actually gaining traction?"
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/trends?query=GLP-1+agonist+neurodegeneration&start_year=2018'
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/pulse?query=GLP-1+agonist+neurodegeneration'
Deep dive into a disease area ($0.13):
"What are the key papers and sub-topics for NF2 schwannoma treatment?"
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/keypapers?query=NF2+schwannoma+treatment&start_year=2022&end_year=2025'
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/trending-subtopics?query=neurofibromatosis+type+2&window=3'
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/pulse?query=NF2+schwannoma+treatment'
Full research digest ($0.08):
"Give me a comprehensive overview of NF2 schwannomatosis treatment research"
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/digest?query=NF2+schwannomatosis+treatment&start_year=2022&end_year=2025'
Author profiling ($0.02):
"Who is Scott Plotkin and what's his publication record?"
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/author?name=Scott+Plotkin'
Discovery mode ($0.10):
"What's interesting happening across neurodegeneration and epigenetics?"
awal x402 pay 'https://pubmed.sekgen.xyz/api/v1/explore?topics=neurodegeneration,epigenetics&limit=5'
Error Handling
- 402 — Payment required. Ensure you're authenticated (
awal auth login) with USDC balance. - 400 — Invalid parameters. Check required fields and constraints (max 50-year range, 2–5 terms for compare).
- 502 — Upstream NCBI error. Retry after a moment.
- 503 — Service temporarily unavailable. Retry after a moment.