# Scholar Author Disambiguator

> Scholar Author Disambiguator is a paid API for AI agents from payai.agentstools.dev, paid per call via x402, $0.015/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-14).

Disambiguates a researcher by name or ORCID and returns their profile including works count, citation count, h-index, institutions, top concepts, and top works.

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://payai.agentstools.dev/scholar/author
- Price: $0.015/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-14
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/scholar-author-disambiguator-fc97339a
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_-P4xBF7G69Hy82xVblkl-

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability scholar-author-disambiguator-fc97339a
```

Example prompt: Can you look up the researcher profile for 'Jane Smith' at MIT and show me her h-index, citation count, and top works — return up to 5 candidates so I can pick the right one?

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when you need to identify or profile a specific academic researcher, especially when disambiguating between people with the same name. It is ideal when you have an ORCID for a precise single-record lookup, or a name plus optional institution for ranked candidate matching. Prefer this over general web search when you need structured bibliometric data (h-index, citation count, top works) with institutional affiliation linked to ROR identifiers.

## Known failure modes

- No matching author found for the given name or ORCID — returns empty results or 404
- Ambiguous name with many candidates — returns ranked list up to the specified limit
- Invalid ORCID format — returns validation error
- Institution name not recognized — may not narrow results effectively
- Rate limit or payment failure — returns 402 or 429 error

## How this service works

Disambiguate a researcher and return their profile: works count, citation count, h-index, institutions with ROR, top concepts and top works. Give an orcid for a resolved profile, or a name for ranked candidates. Distinct people are never merged.

## Output

Returns a ranked list of candidate author profiles (for name search) or a single resolved profile (for ORCID lookup), each including: works count, citation count, h-index, affiliated institutions with ROR identifiers, top research concepts, and top works. Distinct people are never merged into a single result.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "required": [
  "input"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "enum": [
      "GET",
      "HEAD",
      "DELETE"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [],
     "properties": {
      "name": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Author name for ranked candidate profiles"
      },
      "limit": {
       "type": "integer",
       "maximum": 25,
       "minimum": 1,
       "description": "Max candidates for a name search, default 10"
      },
      "orcid": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "ORCID id for a single resolved author profile"
      },
      "institution": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Optional institution name to narrow a name search"
      }
     }
    }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string"
    },
    "example": {
     "type": "object"
    }
   }
  }
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/scholar-author-disambiguator-fc97339a/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from payai.agentstools.dev](https://www.zero.xyz/host/payai.agentstools.dev/llms.txt)