API is basically a set of functions and procedures that allow one application to access the features of other applications, REST is an architectural style for networking applications on the web. It is limited to client-server based applications. REST is a set of rules or guidelines to build a web API. There are many ways to build a web API, and REST is a standard way that will help in building it faster and also for third-parties to understand it better.
A growing number of scholarly publishers, databases, and products offer APIs to allow users with programming skills to more powerfully extract data to serve a variety of research purposes. By using an API, users have gained more flexibilities and capabilities of conducing data query and extraction in their work.
**This list is heavily adapted from Mark Clemente's APIs for Scholarly Resources at MIT.**
If you are interested in learning more about API or have questions about using a specific API, please contact Data Services for more information.
Past workshop tutorials:
