name: IEEE Xplore API Rate Limits
description: |
  Documented quota and constraint policies for the IEEE Xplore REST APIs.
  IEEE does not publish explicit per-minute or per-day request rate limits in its
  public developer documentation. The primary enforced constraints are per-request
  result caps and per-query word limits. Clients should implement backoff and
  avoid hammering the API to prevent key suspension.
specification: api-commons-rate-limits-0.1
provider:
  id: ieee
  name: IEEE Xplore
  url: https://developer.ieee.org/
modified: '2026-06-13'
policies:
  - id: metadata-api-constraints
    appliesTo:
      - api: ieee-metadata-search
      - api: ieee-doi
    enforcement:
      type: server-enforced
      mechanism: |
        IEEE enforces per-request record caps server-side. Clients that exceed
        usage expectations or breach terms of use may have API keys suspended.
        No rate-limit response headers are documented; clients should implement
        conservative retry-with-backoff logic (e.g. HTTP 429 or 503 responses).
    limits:
      - dimension: results-per-request
        max: 200
        default: 25
        scope: per-request
        note: Use the start_record parameter for pagination through larger result sets.
      - dimension: doi-per-request
        max: 25
        scope: per-request
        note: Applies to the DOI API batch lookup endpoint only.
      - dimension: query-words
        max: 10
        scope: per-query-term
        note: A single query term (querytext value) may not exceed 10 words.
    quotas:
      - dimension: api-keys-per-application
        max: 1
        scope: per-registered-application
        note: One API key is issued per application; register multiple applications if needed.
    notes: |
      IEEE does not publish explicit rate limits (requests/minute or requests/day) in
      its developer documentation as of 2026. Developers should treat the API as a
      moderate-traffic scholarly resource, implement sensible pacing between requests,
      and contact onlinesupport@ieee.org for information on higher-volume data access.

  - id: full-text-api-constraints
    appliesTo:
      - api: ieee-full-text
      - api: ieee-open-access
    enforcement:
      type: server-enforced
      mechanism: |
        Full-text requests require both a valid API key and, for chargeable content,
        an institutional auth token. Access is scoped to the subscribing institution's
        licensed holdings. The article_number is a required parameter for all full-text requests.
    limits:
      - dimension: required-parameters
        note: article_number must be provided; requests without it will be rejected.
    notes: |
      Full-text retrieval counts against institutional subscription usage. Organizations
      should monitor consumption through the "My Account" usage reporting dashboard in
      the IEEE Developer Portal.

contact: onlinesupport@ieee.org
links:
  developerPortal: https://developer.ieee.org/
  documentation: https://developer.ieee.org/docs