What is Augment API?

Research Graph Augment API is a RESTful API that transforms metadata of research objects into a collaboration network. The API transforms a single ORCID or DOI to a connected graph consist of the following connections:

For details of the nodes please refer to Research Graph Schema.

Augment API currently supports connections to the following persistent identifiers:

ORCID: https://registry.identifiers.org/registry/orcid
DOI: https://registry.identifiers.org/registry/doi
PubMed: https://registry.identifiers.org/registry/pubmed
GRID: https://registry.identifiers.org/registry/grid
ROR: https://ror.org
ISNI: https://registry.identifiers.org/registry/isni
WikiData: https://registry.identifiers.org/registry/wikidata

Background and technical notes

Augument API was designed in 2017 as a cloud-based service to transform disconnected research information into a connected graph, and augment this graph with the data from the global network of scholarly works. Augment API leverages the Research Graph distributed network and persistent identifiers to establish connections between publications, researchers, research datasets and grants across global infrastructures such as DataCite and open access initiatives such as Scholix.

This project was initiated by the partners in the Research Data Alliance Working Group on Data Description Registry Interoperability, and an earlier implementation has been implemented by GESIS in Germany and NCI in Australia.

You can find the related webinars at

Tracking research data footprints via integration with Research Graph (Mar 8, 2018)
Dr Ben Evans and Dr Jingbo Wang from the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) present the NCI Augmented Graph and show how researchers and third-party systems can access and leverage this information.
Discovering Research Data Links via GESIS LOD Research Graph (Feb 28, 2018)
Dr Ben Evans and Dr Jingbo Wang from the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) will present the NCI Augmented Graph and show how researchers and third-party systems can access and leverage this information.

Research Graph Cloud services enable the following capabilities using the Augment API:

In 2021, we are opening a highly accessible gateway to this capability using RESTful web services. While the REST API does not support all the functionality of the Research Graph Augment services at this stage, it is our starting step toward making this capability accessible to the Australian and international community.

Organisation Disambiguation

One of the key advantages of Augment API is access to Research Graph entity resolution algorithms for organisation records. Research Graph services use an augmented intelligence approach to leverage natural language processing algorithms and augment the result with bespoke ETL processes designed by domain experts to link organisation names to the closest possible records in WikiData. The choice of WikiData as the entity resolution base is derived from the need for high coverage of multi-lingual organisation names across multiple sectors including research, education, government, not-for-profit and commercial sectors. However, the underlying graph leverages the connections to ROR, GRID and ISNI.

FAQ

How can I access the API?

The API is currently accessible to Research Graph partners. If you are interested to use this API, please contact us to discuss your project.

Is it free to use?

There is a beta test program that provides a free and non-commercial use of the API.

What is on the roadmap?

We are expanding the Augment API RESTful service to other persistent identifiers, and we are actively working on adding new types or sources of connections to the underlying graph. As part of the beta test program, you would be able to directly provide input into the roadmap.

Is there any code example?

You can access sample Jupyter notebooks at https://github.com/researchgraph/augment-api-beta

How to access support for the Augment API service?

The beta testers will have access to a Slack channel.