10 Ways to Get Free Access to Scientific Journal Articles

One question I am often asked is “How can I obtain free copies of peer reviewed scientific journal articles if I do not have access to a medical school library or college/university library?” It is a very good question because the cost to download a single research paper in a scientific journal is often somewhere between $20 and $40.

These costs are often set as a per article price, regardless of length. That is a lot to pay just to read a few pages, especially for health care providers in private practice or a layperson trying to learn more about a health condition affecting a loved one.

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Here are 10 ways to get free copies of research articles, some of which require more work than others. Feel free to post other methods in the comment section.

1. SEARCH PUBMED: PubMed is a free government-run website that contains an archive of over 23 million research citations. Simply type in a search term and click on one of the results. Sometimes, in the search results you will see the words “Free PMC article” or “Free Article” listed. Click on that and it will bring you to the abstract page where on the top right of the page you will see a button that indicates the free article status. Click on the button and the article downloads.

2. USE FREEMEDICAL JOURNALS.COM: Freemedicaljournals.com is a great resource provides an amazing compilation of access to free medical articles, including from some of the most well-respected journals.

3. USE HIGHWIRE: Highwire is another extensive collection of free online full text research articles.

4. SEARCH THE JOURNAL WEBSITE: Sometimes simply searching the journal’s website will show you that the article is available for free. Many journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association highlight a few free articles a month for casual readers.

5. SEARCH PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL WEBSITES: Many journals are published on behalf of a professional association. The name of the organization will be listed on the journal’s home page. For example, The Clinical Neuropsychologist is the journal for the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN). By going to the AACN homepage and searching for position papers, you will find an entire list of free articles available to you, such as here.

6. CONTACT THE AUTHOR: You can usually find the email address of a study author on the journal article page below the abstract, such as here. Simply send the author a request for a copy of the email and you will usually get a response with a copy very shortly as most researchers are happy to share their work. Can’t find the author’s email in the journal? Then just type the author’s name into a search engine and you can often find the author’s email address listed in the institutional directory of their employer. If no email is listed, try making a phone call to the author for such a request.

7. SEARCH ENGINE CHECK: Sometimes, just typing in the name of the article into a search engine will bring you to a free link that contains the pdf. You will be amazed at what you can find with a quick internet search.

8. JOIN A LISTSERV: Joining a listserv of health-care professionals in your field (such as here) is a great way to learn new things from colleagues. Simply post an email about a topic and an email is sent to all members of the listserv. Request that someone send you a copy of the article and someone is likely to have a copy and will send it to your privately. Listserv managers generally frown upon sending a copy of the article to the entire listserv unless it is already free in the public domain to prevent copyright violations.

9. USE SOCIAL MEDIA: Not a healthcare provider and don’t have access to a listserv? No problem. Join a social media site such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Google Groups, or Reddit and ask people interested in the same topic as you to send you a copy of the article if they have it. Again, the article should be sent privately if it is not in the public domain.

10. JOIN YOUR STATE LIBRARY: State libraries contain extensive access to journal articles that are typically not free elsewhere. All you need is a valid state library card, a login code, and you are all set. A good example is the extensive journal collection available at the New York State Library.