University of Reading Repository API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: University of Reading REST Interface Repository API
  version: '3.4'
  summary: The read-only EPrints REST interface exposed on the University of Reading's two institutional repository hosts, CentAUR and the Research Data Archive.
  description: Machine-readable description of the /rest/ interface served by the University of Reading on its two repository hosts — centaur.reading.ac.uk (CentAUR, the institutional research-output repository) and researchdata.reading.ac.uk (the Research Data Archive).
  contact:
    name: CentAUR repository team, University of Reading
    email: centaur@reading.ac.uk
    url: https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/information.html
servers:
- url: https://centaur.reading.ac.uk
  description: CentAUR — Central Archive at the University of Reading (research outputs)
- url: https://researchdata.reading.ac.uk
  description: University of Reading Research Data Archive (research datasets)
tags:
- name: Repository
  description: Read-only EPrints REST dataset listings served by the university's repositories.
paths:
  /rest/:
    get:
      tags:
      - Repository
      operationId: listDatasets
      summary: List the datasets exposed by the repository
      description: 'Returns an XHTML index of the datasets the REST interface exposes. Observed values on both hosts: eprint, user, subject.'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: XHTML index of datasets. Observed 2026-09-01 on both hosts.
          content:
            text/html:
              schema:
                type: string
                contentMediaType: text/html
  /rest/eprint/:
    get:
      tags:
      - Repository
      operationId: listEprints
      summary: List every record id in the repository
      description: Returns an XHTML index of every eprint id, each linking to a per-record directory (`{id}/`) and a per-record XML document (`{id}.xml`). Large — 6.5 MB on CentAUR at probe time. The index itself is unauthenticated; the per-record XML it links to is not.
      responses:
        '200':
          description: XHTML index of record ids. Observed 2026-09-01 on both hosts.
          content:
            text/html:
              schema:
                type: string
                contentMediaType: text/html
  /rest/eprint/{eprintId}.xml:
    get:
      tags:
      - Repository
      operationId: getEprint
      summary: Retrieve one record as EPrints XML (authenticated)
      description: 'Returns the EPrints XML representation of a single record. Measured to require authentication: an unauthenticated GET returned 401 with an "EPrints REST: Auth Required" body on both hosts on 2026-09-01. No public credential issuance process was found; the open route to this metadata is the OAI-PMH endpoint.'
      parameters:
      - name: eprintId
        in: path
        required: true
        description: Numeric EPrints record id, as enumerated by GET /rest/eprint/.
        schema:
          type: integer
          examples:
          - 5
      responses:
        '200':
          description: EPrints XML record. Not observed — the endpoint requires credentials we do not hold.
          content:
            text/xml:
              schema:
                type: string
                contentMediaType: text/xml
        '401':
          description: Auth Required. This is what an unauthenticated caller receives, and what was observed.
          content:
            text/html:
              schema:
                type: string
                contentMediaType: text/html
  /rest/subject/:
    get:
      tags:
      - Repository
      operationId: listSubjects
      summary: List the repository's subject taxonomy
      description: Returns an XHTML index of subject terms. Observed 200 on both hosts.
      responses:
        '200':
          description: XHTML index of subjects.
          content:
            text/html:
              schema:
                type: string
                contentMediaType: text/html
  /rest/user/:
    get:
      tags:
      - Repository
      operationId: listUsers
      summary: List the repository's user records
      description: Returns an XHTML index of user record ids. Observed 200 on both hosts. Only ids are listed; the per-user documents behind them require authentication in the same way record XML does.
      responses:
        '200':
          description: XHTML index of user record ids.
          content:
            text/html:
              schema:
                type: string
                contentMediaType: text/html