⫸STICKY⫷ How to access paywalled journal articles

[Skorpio]

Don't you just hate when you are trying to read the latest publication in The International Journal of Science and Nature and have to pay for the publication to see it? Me too!

And often the scientists who wrote the paper hate pay walls, because they have to pay to publish it, and then make zero profit (other than reputation, the exposure of the science world). So here are a few ways to steal papers.

First and foremost, Scihub. Formed in 2011 by Kazakh undergrad Alexandra Elbakyan, it collects tokens that allow for journal access (such as a university subscription) and uses these to access articles you query (either with the doi or url). Once it grabs an article it archives it for later access. This is my first choice when trying to hunt down an article due to the ease of access and the relative lack of bullshit hoops you need to jump through

The downside of scihub is that it can often be down and depending on how publishing companies are going after it. Also it can often get taken down by hosting companies so I often Google sci hub and try links rather than just relying on a url as they tend to go bad.

I'll post some of the more niche methods later.

 

[Imaginarium]

Thanks, Skorpio. Paywalls and access to published research is definitely an area I feel needs addressing in academia. Fortunately, some journals (e.g., International Journal of Drug Policy) are committed to being Transformative Journals, however, while this is a positive step in the right direction, there’s still plenty of work to do.

Yes, Sci-Hub can be an invaluable resource. You mentioned you’re going to detail some more niche methods later? It could be useful to link a source where people can find currently active Sci-Hub domains?

In addition, there’s also Library Genesis, which provides access to many scholarly or general interest books and academic journal articles. Much like Sci-Hub, Library Genesis has been an invaluable source to many, despite criticisms of piracy.

If you’re not having any luck with the above, you could always:

1. Contact the corresponding or co-authors of your paper of interest. Most (almost all) journals will have the email address of the corresponding author for the paper - which may not be the first or last author - and it‘s possible to just reach out and express your interest in their work/paper. Sharing a .pdf of the published version of the manuscript is classified as “fair use” and many authors are happy to provide a copy of the manuscript you’re interested in. Often, published papers are shared in good-faith that the recipient will use the file for the own private purposes and not share with authors. If you don’t hear back from the corresponding author, don’t stress, you can simply move on to the next co-author or utilize another approach.
   
   
2. Utilize ArXiv.org. Although, primarily used by researchers in Maths, Physics, Astronomy and Computer Science, the platform now includes researcher from other disciplines. ArXiv is a platform where pre-prints (i.e., often before having undergone peer-review) are made freely available for others to comments on. If authors make changes to the manuscript in response to one of the comments, it must be reflected on the original version.
   
   
3. 3. Install and explore Unpaywall, which is a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that allows access to a repository of harvested links to Open Acess Peer-reviewed journal articles from around the world.

 

[ecstacylover]

Sci-Hub is an amazing site, but it seems like over the past couple years it's unable to access a lot of newer papers. In cases where I can't find a paper on Sci-Hub I've always been able to get it on /r/scholar. I miss having a university account though, it was so much easier.

 

[Fertile]

Skorpio seems able to get specific articles if asked nicely, but I note he has to be convinced that their is a specific aim and the person isn't just browsing. For browsing, Sci Hub is enough.

 

[Skorpio]

Science hub mutual aid group

Science hub Mutual Aid community

Mutual Aid Community Committed to:free papers,download research papers for free,free scientific articles,doi unlocker,free scientific papers,scientific articles free,

www.wosonhj.com

This is a site where users post requests, and users with access fill the requests for points. It isn't as likely to have some rare article that you want, but putting a request could get that article acquired for you. I've successfully used it once or twice for things I couldn't sci-hub.

 

[xtcgrrrl]

Thank you so much for this! One of the main reasons I came back on the site was because I am writing a paper for grad school on the use of psychedelics in a therapeutic setting (such as ketamine) so this is EXTREMELY helpful, thank you!!!

 

[Fertile]

Mate - you found me one of the hardest articles to acquire bar none. I hope I explained WHY it was important. Look at 'Opioid Analgesics - Chemistry and Receptors' by Casy et al. Chapter 8 Page 296. Those spirane opioids. I was able to divine QSAR. The p-Me makes it bind to NOP and the N-methyl of the amide overlays the 4 position of the fentanyl class opioids so the methoxymethyl (-CH2OCH3) or carbamate ester (-COOCH3) act like sufentanil or carfentanil analogues.

One of them is x15000 M.

But your paper had one compound with a MOP Ki of 0.0034!!!!!!!!

 

[izo]

Science hub mutual aid group

Science hub Mutual Aid community

Mutual Aid Community Committed to:free papers,download research papers for free,free scientific articles,doi unlocker,free scientific papers,scientific articles free,

www.wosonhj.com

This is a site where users post requests, and users with access fill the requests for points. It isn't as likely to have some rare article that you want, but putting a request could get that article acquired for you. I've successfully used it once or twice for things I couldn't sci-hub.

yeah, already found papers that werent accessible via scihub. very helpful if you are really in need for a special paper.

 

[IbenHatab]

What I know:

Accessing paywalled journal articles can be challenging for many people, especially students and researchers who may not have access to expensive journal subscriptions. However, there are several ways to access paywalled journal articles, some of which are:

1. Check with your institution: Many universities and research institutions have subscriptions to various academic journals. Check with your institution's library or online database to see if they have access to the journal you need.
2. Request the article from the author: If the article you need is not available through your institution, try contacting the author of the article directly. They may be willing to send you a copy of the article.
3. Use academic search engines: Some academic search engines such as Google Scholar, JSTOR, and Sci-Hub can provide access to many paywalled journal articles. Sci-Hub, in particular, has gained popularity as a platform to access many articles for free.
4. Join a professional organization: Many professional organizations offer access to academic journals as part of their membership benefits. Consider joining a relevant organization to access their journal subscriptions.
5. Public libraries: Some public libraries offer access to academic journals through their online databases. Check with your local library to see if they have access to the journal you need.

It's essential to remember that accessing paywalled journal articles without proper authorization can be illegal and unethical. It's always best to use legal and ethical means to access academic articles.

 

[Imaginarium]

It's essential to remember that accessing paywalled journal articles without proper authorization can be illegal and unethical. It's always best to use legal and ethical means to access academic articles.

In my opinion, it's unethical to keep access to journal articles - and in particular the data and information within - restricted to only those with enough financial, social and cultural capital. I would also argue that academics have a moral obligation to ensure their publications are disseminated in an accessible and socially-responsive manner. Whether it's through open access publications, libraries like Sci-Hub or other means, I do feel academics have a moral responsibility to dismantle and deconstruct the many inherently exclusionary structures in academia.

 

[Atomic_Decay]

There are a couple of other options also. These days most-academics and researchers publish their Pre- and/or Post-print versions of papers on an Open Access Repository. @Skorpio and @Imaginarium have listed some key ones and the general idea. Open Access is growing and is endorsed, encouraged, and supported by uncountable numbers of individuals and institutions.

Note that the whole edifice of scientific knowledge and truth is founded on the strength and integrity of Peer Review. The vast majority of Open Access Repository articles are self-archived articles with no peer review. You could make up whatever you want and file in an archive you have access to. Which commonly happens in sites like researchgate.net and academia.org

So note that when you access a paper on a Open Access Repository you need to be a little careful about recognising whether you are reading is Pre-print, Post-print, or Final (there are other common names for these three article types as well). When citing other articles in your own publication you would want the Final Version - which is almost always the paywalled one.

Pre-print: the version submitted to the journal and prior to refereeing.

Post-print: the version after refereeing but without publisher formatting and accepted by the journal for publication

Final: the ‘version of record’ as it appears in the journal

There may be multiple and often inconsistent Pre- and Post- versions of an individual paper to be found online. But the Post-Print version is also often identical in terms of research content/data/conclusions as the Final version.

Here is a useful list of dozens of Open Access Repositories:

UC Library Guides: Open Access Toolkit: Open Access Repositories

UC Library Guides: Open Access Toolkit: Open Access Repositories

canberra.libguides.com

 

[AlsoTapered]

It's worth knowing that now there are multiple 'on-line digital libraries' and quite a few have got Sci Hub buried in them. I'm not quite sure how I did it but I found a directory in one which was a list of subdirectories that were ALL 22TB in size (think Seagate Server drives) and this directory had hundreds of these subdirectories. Pretty soon I was discovering that all the Sci-Hub stuff appeared in 1 block of these drives.

Put simply, someone transferred Sci-Hub to tape and just sent it to other groups.

A single tape holds 580TB.

I'm seriously thinking of getting one. People ask for an article and OK it takes 24 hours.... but that's still faster than when papers used to be posted (and I recall those days).

 

[someguyontheinternet]

If you're associated with an institution, most university libraries have a system where articles that the library doesn't have access to can be requested usually called interlibrary loan and it works with books as well. They've been able to get me papers within a few days 99%+ of the time with a simple request