Ideas Repec Org

IDEAS/RePEc Access Skill

Access bibliographic data from IDEAS (Internet Documents in Economics Access Service), part of RePEc (Research Papers in Economics).

Overview

IDEAS/RePEc is a comprehensive database of economic literature including:

• Journal articles from hundreds of economics journals
• Working papers from universities and research institutions
• Book chapters
• Software components
• Author profiles and rankings

Functions

get_article

Get detailed information about a specific article.

Parameters:

• handle (required): RePEc handle or article URL
  • Handle format: archive:series:details (e.g., bla:ajecsc:v:85:y:2026:i:3:p:303-314)
  • URL format: https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ajecsc/v85y2026i3p303-314.html

Returns:

{
  "success": true,
  "article": {
    "url": "https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ajecsc/v85y2026i3p303-314.html",
    "handle": "RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:85:y:2026:i:3:p:303-314",
    "title": "Article Title",
    "authors": ["Author Name"],
    "abstract": "Abstract text...",
    "journal": "Journal Name",
    "publisher": "Publisher",
    "year": "2024",
    "volume": "85",
    "issue": "3",
    "pages": "303-314",
    "doi": "10.xxxx/xxxxx",
    "keywords": [],
    "jel_codes": ["F21", "O11"],
    "has_download": true,
    "free_download": false,
    "suggested_citation": "Citation string..."
  }
}

Example:

result = await execute({
    'function': 'get_article',
    'handle': 'bla:ajecsc:v:85:y:2026:i:3:p:303-314'
})

get_serial

Get journal/serial information and list of recent articles.

Parameters:

• handle (required): RePEc serial handle or URL
  • Handle format: archive:series (e.g., bla:ajecsc)
  • URL format: https://ideas.repec.org/s/bla/ajecsc.html

Returns:

{
  "success": true,
  "serial": {
    "url": "https://ideas.repec.org/s/bla/ajecsc.html",
    "title": "American Journal of Economics and Sociology",
    "publisher": "Wiley Blackwell",
    "handle": "bla:ajecsc",
    "issues": [
      {"date": "May 2026", "volume": "85", "issue": "3"}
    ],
    "articles": [
      {
        "url": "https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ajecsc/v85y2026i3p303-314.html",
        "title": "Article Title",
        "volume": "85",
        "year": "2026",
        "issue": "3",
        "pages": "303-314"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Example:

result = await execute({
    'function': 'get_serial',
    'handle': 'bla:ajecsc'
})

search

Search IDEAS for economic literature.

Parameters:

• query (required): Search query string
• search_field (optional): Field to search in
  • all (default): Search in all fields
  • title: Search in titles only
  • author: Search in author names
  • abstract: Search in abstracts
  • keywords: Search in keywords
• doc_type (optional): Document type filter
  • all (default): All document types
  • articles: Journal articles only
  • papers: Working papers only
  • chapters: Book chapters only
  • books: Books only
  • software: Software components only
• page (optional): Page number for pagination (default: 1)

Returns:

{
  "success": true,
  "query": "foreign direct investment",
  "search_field": "all",
  "doc_type": "articles",
  "page": 1,
  "total": 33371,
  "count": 10,
  "results": [
    {
      "url": "https://ideas.repec.org/a/...",
      "handle": "archive:series:details",
      "title": "Article Title",
      "type": "article",
      "authors": ["Author Name"],
      "context": "Surrounding text from search results..."
    }
  ]
}

Example:

# Basic search
result = await execute({
    'function': 'search',
    'query': 'inflation targeting'
})

# Search in titles only
result = await execute({
    'function': 'search',
    'query': 'monetary policy',
    'search_field': 'title'
})

# Search for working papers
result = await execute({
    'function': 'search',
    'query': 'climate change economics',
    'doc_type': 'papers'
})

# Paginated results
result = await execute({
    'function': 'search',
    'query': 'economic growth',
    'page': 2
})

get_citations

Get citation and download statistics for an article.

Parameters:

• handle (required): RePEc handle of the article

Returns:

{
  "success": true,
  "citations": {
    "handle": "RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:85:y:2026:i:3:p:303-314",
    "downloads": "1523",
    "abstract_views": "3542",
    "citations": []
  }
}

Example:

result = await execute({
    'function': 'get_citations',
    'handle': 'bla:ajecsc:v:85:y:2026:i:3:p:303-314'
})

Handle Format

RePEc handles are unique identifiers for documents in the RePEc database. They follow the format:

archive:series:details

For example:

• Serial/Journal: bla:ajecsc (American Journal of Economics and Sociology)
• Article: bla:ajecsc:v:85:y:2026:i:3:p:303-314
• Working Paper: nber:w12345

URLs are automatically converted to handles, so you can use either format.

Response Fields

Article Fields

• url: IDEAS URL for the article
• handle: RePEc unique identifier
• title: Article title
• authors: List of author names
• abstract: Article abstract
• journal: Journal name
• publisher: Publisher name
• year: Publication year
• volume: Journal volume
• issue: Journal issue
• pages: Page range
• doi: DOI identifier (if available)
• keywords: Author keywords
• jel_codes: JEL classification codes
• has_download: Whether full text is available
• free_download: Whether download is free
• suggested_citation: Formatted citation string

Search Result Fields

• url: IDEAS URL for the item
• handle: RePEc handle
• title: Item title
• type: Document type (article, paper, chapter, book, software)
• authors: List of authors (if detected)
• context: Surrounding text from search results

Error Handling

All error responses include:

• error: Human-readable error message
• error_code: Machine-readable error code

Error codes:

• INVALID_HANDLE: The provided handle or URL could not be parsed
• MISSING_PARAM: Required parameter is missing
• MISSING_FUNCTION: No function specified
• UNKNOWN_FUNCTION: Unknown function name
• FETCH_ERROR: Failed to fetch the requested resource
• SEARCH_ERROR: Search request failed

Rate Limiting

The skill respects rate limits with:

• 2 requests per second
• Maximum 5 concurrent requests

Notes

1. Free Access: IDEAS/RePEc is a free service. Some linked full-text articles may require subscription access.

2. Author Pages: Author pages (/e/ URLs) require author registration and are not directly accessible. Use search with search_field: 'author' to find author works.

3. Citation Data: The get_citations function queries LogEc for download and view statistics. Detailed citation lists may not be fully available.

4. Search Tips:

   • Use boolean operators: + for AND, | for OR, ~ for NOT
   • Phrase search: "opportunity cost"
   • Author/year search: Smith (1776) or Kydland Prescott (1977)
   • Synonyms are automatically expanded (labor=labour, USA=United States)
   • Word stemming is applied automatically

Examples

Find articles on a topic

result = await execute({
    'function': 'search',
    'query': 'behavioral economics',
    'doc_type': 'articles'
})
for item in result['results'][:5]:
    print(f"{item['title']} - {', '.join(item['authors'])}")

Get journal contents

result = await execute({
    'function': 'get_serial',
    'handle': 'aea:aerrev'  # American Economic Review
})
print(f"Journal: {result['serial']['title']}")
for article in result['serial']['articles'][:10]:
    print(f"  {article['title']}")

Look up an article

result = await execute({
    'function': 'get_article',
    'handle': 'bla:ajecsc:v:85:y:2026:i:3:p:303-314'
})
article = result['article']
print(f"Title: {article['title']}")
print(f"Authors: {', '.join(article['authors'])}")
print(f"Journal: {article['journal']} ({article['year']})")
print(f"DOI: {article['doi']}")

Search for author's work

result = await execute({
    'function': 'search',
    'query': 'Joseph Stiglitz',
    'search_field': 'author'
})
print(f"Found {result['total']} works")