To access Scopus via its API, you need two things. First, your institution needs to be a subscriber (not only to Scopus, but really to its API); second, you need to register API keys at https://dev.elsevier.com/apikey/manage. For each profile, you may register 10 keys.
The Scopus API recognizes you as a member of your institution via IP range. For working from home, Scopus can also grant InstTokens. Thus one of three things needs to happen:
- You are in your institution's network
- You use your institution's VPN
- You use an InstToken
Option 1 is easy and the most common.
Option 2 might require you to additionally set a proxy. You can do so in the :doc:`configuration file <../configuration>`.
Option 3 is rare. An InstToken is provided directly by Scopus/Elsevier to allow remote access in the absence of a VPN. It is coupled directly to a key. If you have an InstToken, please provide it during the setup when pybliometrics prompts you for it. Alternatively, add it to the :doc:`configuration file <../configuration>` manually. Remember to remove them (or comment out) when you're in your VPN again.
There are only three Scopus APIs that you can access without your institution subscribing to it: The Abstract Retrieval API through :doc:`AbstractRetrieval(..., view=META) <../reference/scopus/ScopusSearch>`, the Scopus Search API through doc:ScopusSearch(..., subscriber=False) <../reference/scopus/ScopusSearch>, and the Subject Classifications API doc:SubjectClassification() <../reference/scopus/SubjectClassification> without special parameters.
The access to ScienceDirect is similar to the Scopus API, yet totally independent. Institutions may subscribe to the ScienceDirect API but not to the Scopus API, and vice versa.