CORE

CORE is ranked #1 of 33 in academic research databases on The Geeks Club. It runs on API, Browser extension, Web. There is a free plan. A free trial is offered.

CORE plans and pricing

All plans

CORE API — free access without registration Free Free access subject to rate limits; one batch request or five single requests per 10 seconds core.ac.uk · 29 Sept 2026

Starting membership Free For data providers; includes the CORE Repository Dashboard core.ac.uk · 29 Sept 2026

CORE API — registered access Not published Registered users get better performance; higher rates require contacting CORE for a quote core.ac.uk · 29 Sept 2026

Supporting membership Not published Includes Starting benefits, technical support, and CORE API access for the institution and researchers core.ac.uk · 29 Sept 2026

Sustaining membership Not published Includes Supporting benefits, OA Compliance dashboard, dataset use for the university, repository health check, and unlimited prioritised support core.ac.uk · 29 Sept 2026

Compared on academic research databases

Free plan: Yes
Full-text access: Yes
Advanced search: Yes
Subject coverage: multidisciplinary
Content types: research papers, journal articles, preprints, theses, dissertations, conference proceedings, reports, books
Theses and dissertations: Yes
Conference proceedings: Yes
Institutional access: Yes

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CORE

Research discovery: CORE indexes scholarly literature from repositories, preprint servers, and journals and provides a search service for open access papers.
Corpus size: CORE says its collection contains 449 million searchable research papers and 57 million full texts.
API access: The CORE API provides real-time machine access to metadata and full texts of research papers.
Bulk data: CORE Dataset lets users download CORE data and run processes such as prototyping, data analysis, and text mining on their own infrastructure.
Discovery tools: CORE Discovery is available as a browser extension, repository plugin, and API for developers and third-party services.
Repository recommender: CORE Recommender is a plugin for repositories, journal systems, and web interfaces that suggests similar articles.
Integrations: CORE says its Discovery tool can integrate with repositories, and its API documentation includes examples and wrappers for common programming languages.
Membership support: Supporting membership includes technical support, while Sustaining membership includes unlimited and prioritised support.
Usage terms: CORE says commercial use of its API is allowed subject to its terms and conditions, and some uses require obtaining a licence.
Eligibility limits: CORE says downloadable dataset access is currently limited to users representing organisations registered in non-sanctioned countries; individuals may access data through the API instead.
Governance: CORE describes itself as a not-for-profit, community-governed service and a signatory to the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructures.
Who it serves: CORE lists researchers, the general public, academic institutions, developers, funders, and companies among the stakeholders its services support.
Founded: 2010
Headquarters: Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
Price from: Free

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Where it ranks on The Geeks Club

Best Academic Research Databases in 2026#1 of 33

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Sources

core.ac.uk/about· checked 29 Sept 2026
core.ac.uk/data· checked 29 Sept 2026
core.ac.uk/services/api· checked 29 Sept 2026
core.ac.uk/services· checked 29 Sept 2026
core.ac.uk/services/discovery· checked 29 Sept 2026
core.ac.uk/membership· checked 29 Sept 2026
core.ac.uk/terms· checked 29 Sept 2026
core.ac.uk· checked 23 Sept 2026
core.ac.uk/faq· checked 29 Sept 2026