The story:

About a year ago, a customer adopting Scholarly as their system of record for faculty data wanted this data to flow automatically to their online public directory and to other campus systems already in place. The goal was one source of truth, reflected everywhere.

Scholarly’s API went from a line item on our roadmap to one of the strongest parts of our platform.

A few things it now does for institutions:

→ Powers public faculty directories that pull live from Scholarly, so the profiles on a university's website update themselves and are always current.

→ Keeps Scholarly in sync with the campus systems institutions use, like Banner, Workday, and PeopleSoft, so faculty data is maintained once and reflected everywhere.

→ Sends updates the moment they happen, so every connected system stays current without anyone lifting a finger.

→ Keeps everything secure, with encrypted, permission-scoped access keys that are unique to each institution, so every connected system only ever sees the faculty data it's authorized to.

What is an API, exactly?

An API (application programming interface) is the connection that lets two software systems talk to each other automatically, without a person in the middle copying and pasting or manually sending or uploading files. This means no spreadsheets emailed around, no overnight wait, and no manual re-entry.

For faculty data, a professor's record (their title, appointment dates, bio, publications, awards) can live and be maintained in exactly one place, and still show up accurately and instantly in other locations such as the public-facing directory on the university website, a dean's dashboard, and the systems that run payroll and course scheduling. Updates are made in Scholarly and everyone sees that updated version. Scholarly is the single source of truth.

Who controls it?

The institution does.

When faculty data flows through an API, the institution decides which systems are allowed to connect, and exactly what each one can see. A public website can be limited to specified public-facing fields, while an internal reporting system might see more. Permissions mirror the ones already enforced in Scholarly, and any can be revoked the moment you want to cut off access. Sensitive data stays protected, and each connected system only ever sees the information it's authorized to see.

It's also worth being clear about which "API" is which, because the word gets used two ways. Scholarly's API is the connection point other systems use to get faculty data out of or into Scholarly. Separately, Scholarly connects out to the systems you already run (Banner, Workday, PeopleSoft, etc.) to keep records in sync. In both directions, you stay in control of what moves and who's allowed to see it. Your faculty data is yours; it's never locked inside a vendor's black box.

What makes the Scholarly API different?

We built Scholarly's API as a part of the core platform instead of an add-on. Our goal is to be the best vendor to work with in higher ed, and a great API is part of that promise.

→ It's live, not batched. Changes propagate the moment they happen. When a faculty member is promoted or adds a publication, any connected system reflects it right away, not after a pre-scheduled export runs. There's no window where your website says one thing and your system of record says another.

→ It's open and documented. The endpoints are fully documented, so your own team or web developers can build against them directly rather than filing a ticket and waiting. Scholarly chose the industry-standard JSON:API specification, which makes interacting with the API predictable. That means your public directory, your intranet, or your reporting tools can pull exactly what they need, in the shape they need it.

→ It's yours. Because your data is accessible through a clean, standard interface that you control, moving faculty information where it needs to go is never a negotiation. The institution owns the flow.

→ It keeps improving with our customers. This API was built for our customers who need to solve tangible issues. Our team ships improvements quickly rather than annually.

The bottom line

An API sounds technical, but the end result is straightforward. With Scholarly’s API, you can maintain faculty data once, and let it show up accurately, instantly, and securely everywhere your institution needs it.

To learn more, reach out to Scholarly today.