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Access journal articles

Some journals make articles available online without the user needing to subscribe or pay for access. Unfortunately, not all journals do this. Unless a journal is open access, makes their articles free after a waiting period or is supplied by a library which subscribes to the journal, there will be a charge.

This Week in PHC is PHCRIS' highly informative free weekly eNewsletter, bringing together the latest research and industry information, along with topical articles, interviews with researchers, opinion pieces and community notices. It is an exceptional resource for anyone involved in, or looking to find out more about, primary health care research in Australia and internationally. Our editor includes links to free sources where possible. Freely available articles are identified with [Free Full Text]. Those without access to a library service will be familiar with the frustration caused by being able to access only the abstract of an article of interest. PHCRIS frequently receives requests from subscribers to This Week in PHC who do not have access to a library service seeking copies of the journal articles we provide links to. Unfortunately many journals are only available on subscription and are subject to copyright restrictions.

This Week in PHC does not exclude important new articles because they are not freely available. This Guide provides avenues for accessing full text health and medical literature.

Is it Freely available?

PubMed
Most listings in the PubMed database now link to sources where the article may either be downloaded from an open access site or purchased online from the publisher. PubMed searches can be restricted to free full text by choosing "free full text available" from the  text availability filter options once search results are displayed. Please note this is likely to reduce the results of your search.

EuropePMC
Based on the original PubMed Central repository, EuropePMC differs in that it includes Patents (European, US, and International) and recent biomedical theses, and contains ‘Cited By’ information for each article.

Free Medical Journals
This site has a listing of journals which make their articles free after a waiting period.

Public Library of Science (PLoS)
This organisation produces open access electronic journals, including seven peer reviewed medical and life science journals produced monthly.

BioMed Central
This open access publisher freely offers over 250 peer-reviewed journals on topics such as health services research, medical informatics, family practice, public health and nursing.

Directory of Open Access Journals
This Directory covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals. There are now over 9000 journals in the directory. Browse by the subject heading 'Health Sciences' for medical, nursing, dentistry and public health journals.

SHERPA
This website contains and promotes open access resources and repositories of published material (eg. includes guidance on depositing articles in open access resources).

OpenDOAR
Worldwide Directory of Open Access Repositories (a SHERPA service).

OMICS online
An amalgamation of 350 online open access journals, provides overviews and links to journal and recent publications.

JSTOR
A digital archive of journals and books, as well as providing access to current journals this website provides access to archived articles and documents.

FreeFullPDF.com
This is a google type search engine of scientific articles that finds you articles that are freely available in PDF form.

Contact the author

Most journals offer reprints of their published manuscript to authors of papers (e.g. an e-print is an encrypted PDF of a paper that can be hosted on a web site for download by multiple users). Use the author's contact details provided on the paper to request a copy of their publication.

Are there preprint copies available?

Google Scholar
Google Scholar provides several access options for each article and sometimes these are pre-prints.

Trove (previously Australian Research online)
A service of the National Library of Australia listing Australian university and government publications.

Is it available through your State or Municipal Library?

State Libraries offer free online access to some full text databases such as Proquest and Informit. Many more can be accessed by using computers within the library building. To access visit your State Library website and register to receive a library card; you can then log on and use their resources.

Due to licensing restrictions, use must be for private research and study purposes only - no use is allowed for business, commercial or work-related purposes. If the article you require is not available, it can be ordered for you through the Library’s Document Supply Service. This is not a free service. State Libraries also operate online reference services where you can receive help in accessing articles.

Connect with a State Library

Connect with a State Library State Library of Western Australia State Library of South Australia ACT Library Northern Territory Library State Library of Queensland State Library of NSW State Library of Victoria State Library of Tasmania

You may also be able to obtain an inter library loan through your local municipal library. Check with your friendly Librarian.

Useful PHCRIS Resources

Searching Databases for peer reviewed journal articles

Many of the databases listed here provide tutorials on how to search for articles. Remember to choose your terms carefully. Use ‘AND’ between terms to narrow the search, use ‘OR’ to broaden the search, and use ‘NOT’ to narrow the search.

The PHC Search Filter is an efficient search strategy giving you easy access to the primary health care literature you need, click on the icon to learn more.

Efficiently find the most appropriate literature to answer your questions

There are many reasons to search the literature. The Introduction to... Searching the literature Getting Started Guide provides tips on literature sources, search strategies, limits and filters.

Other resources

SPARC
This organisation is comprised of academic and research libraries focusing on scholarly publishing and expanding the dissemination of scholarly research.

What is OPEN ACCESS?

"If an article is "Open Access" it means that it can be freely accessed by anyone in the world using an internet connection. This means that the potential readership of Open Access articles is far, far greater than that for articles where the full-text is restricted to subscribers. Evidence shows that making research material Open Access increases the number of readers and significantly increases citations to the article - in some fields increasing citations by 300%."
SHERPA Authors and Open Access (accessed 19 March 2014) Ooen Access

Open Access Week
Is a global event promoting Open Access as a new norm in scholarship and research. Log on to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what you’ve learned with colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in helping to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research.

Can you find a print copy?

The Australian Libraries Gateway is a web based directory for finding Australian libraries. Check the catalogue of a university library nearby. You may find a library in your area with a print version that you can photocopy. University libraries are increasingly moving to digital collections, policies for unregistered users may be in place to access electronic journals and books within the library. Check with the library before you visit.

Use a document delivery service

There are commercial document delivery services which provide a speedy service and have reduced rates for non-profit organisations. You will need to register to set up an account.

Copies Direct
A service of the National Library of Australia.

Loansome Doc
A document delivery service run through PubMed and the US National Library of Medicine.
Requesters need to have registered both with National Library of Australia and the US National Library of Medicine. Once you have registered you can order articles from within a PubMed search.

RightFindTM Now
Access the content you need quickly, cost effectively and copyright compliantly.

British Library Direct
A service of the British Library.

Many of the State Libraries also have a fee based document delivery service (see links in map).

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Compiled by PHCRIS
Last updated Fri 11 Sep 2015
Suggested citation
Primary Health Care Research & Information Service (2017). PHCRIS Getting Started Guides: How to... Access journal articles . From http://www.phcris.org.au/guides/accessing_articles.php (Accessed 14 Jul 2017)