# OpenAlex > OpenAlex is an open-source, non-profit index of the global research system. It provides a comprehensive, interconnected database of scholarly works, authors, institutions, and venues, serving as a replacement for proprietary indexes like Web of Science and the discontinued Microsoft Academic Graph. - URL: https://optimly.ai/brand/openalex - Slug: openalex - BAI Score: 68/100 - Archetype: Challenger - Category: Information Services - Last Analyzed: April 10, 2026 ## Competitors - Dimensions (Digital Science) (https://optimly.ai/brand/dimensions-digital-science) ## Also Referenced By - Scopus (Elsevier) (https://optimly.ai/brand/elsevier-scopus) - Digital Science (Dimensions) (https://optimly.ai/brand/digital-science-dimensions) ## Buyer Intent Signals Problems: how to measure university research impact without Scopus | Manual Literature Search: Manually searching Google Scholar, PubMed, or individual publisher sites. | General Web Search: Using generic digital library tools or general-purpose search engines like Google. | In-house Bibliographic Database Building: Building an internal database of papers using library science staff and custom scripts. Solutions: open source bibliographic database API | dataset for scholarly citation analysis | OurResearch scholarly index | best data source for world university rankings Comparisons: free alternative to Microsoft Academic Graph