HOW TO
GET THE PDF? 1/4
updated: 2023
Overview of possible alternatives to get a pdf of the
full text of scientific papers. From the use of browser
plug-ins, general and specific open access search engines
and sources, to even more possibilities.
OPTIONS FOR UG/UMCG
LEAN LIBRARY
The library in YOUR browser at all times. This browser plugin
makes off-campus access to full text, and all digital content/sources of
the library very easy. You don't have to find the library, it finds you!
Download LeanLibrary from:
https://www.leanlibrary.com/download/item244
THE GET IT! BUTTON
The Get it! button is presented in almost all our scientific
bibliographic databases. By using the Get It! button you can
check whether you have access to the full text. To see the
button, always start using a database, e-journal or e-book via
the list of E-resources on our website.
DOI-LINK
Use the DOI-link presented in each publication description,
if you think the Get it!-button is not working properly.
If you can download the PDF there, it means the library has a
subscription (or it's free or open access).
If you cannot download the PDF, we do not have a current
subscription for access to the full text.
EDUROAM-WIFI AT THE UG/UMCG
Using the Eduroam wifi inside the University/UMCG will
get you access to the PDF without having to use the library
proxy-login!
CONNECT TOOL
No matter where you are online, this button will take
you from the so-called 'Paywall' directly to the pdf, with
a push of the button (via the library proxy-login).
Details on how to install the Connect-button:
https://proxy-ub.rug.nl/public/proxy_en.html
BROWZINE JOURNAL APP
By registering as University of Groningen/UMCG staff and
the use of the library proxy-login, you can get a
personalised way of access to all Tables of Content you
wish for, and direct access to the PDFs of all our e-journals.
https://browzine.com
READBYQXMD JOURNAL APP
If you are a staff member of the Universitair Medisch Centrum
Groningen, you can use Readbyqxmd. By registering as a
UMCG staff member, and the use of the library proxy-login, you
can get a personalised way of access to the latest medical
publications, get alerts on new content relevant for you, and of
course, direct access to the PDF's.
https://www.readbyqxmd.com
Composed by UG/UMCG, as a general guideline to help individual researchers in getting access to the PDF of an
article, in case access via their own institute is difficult. Please consult your own university (medical) library for
more specific information. Updated March 2023.
HOW TO
GET THE PDF? 2/4
Overview of possible alternatives to get a pdf of the
full text of scientific papers. From the use of browser
plug-ins, general and specific open access search engines
and sources, to even more possibilities.
ALTERNATIVES - OPEN ACCESS GENERAL
UNPAYWALL
Get full text of research papers as you browse, using
Unpaywall's index of 10 million legal, open access articles.
For CHROME | Firefox
http://unpaywall.org/
CORE DISCOVERY
One-click access to free copies of research papers whenever you hit
the paywall. CORE Discovery helps users to discover freely
accessible copies of research papers, out of a dataset of 135 million
papers.
For CHROME | Firefox | Opera
https://core.ac.uk/services/discovery/
GOOGLE SCHOLAR BUTTON
Easy access to Google Scholar from any web page. Find full text on
the web or in your university library. Select the title of the paper on
the page you're reading, and click the Scholar button to find it.
For CHROME | Firefox | Edge
https://addons.mozilla.org/nl/firefox/addon/google-scholar-button/
ENDNOTE CLICK
Get instant notifications of available versions from your library
or otherwise. Extra features like a personal locker, saved articles
and more.
For CHROME | Firefox | Opera
https://click.endnote.com/
OPEN ACCESS BUTTON
Free, legal research articles and data delivered instantly or
automatically requested from authors. You can do this from
the website, or install a browser extension/API.
https://openaccessbutton.org/
OPEN ACCESS HELPER
The only extension that works for Mobile (IOS only) and for
macOS, designed to help you get easy access to open access
articles, makes use of API's from Unpaywall and CORE.
Also available for Chrome and Firefox
https://www.otzberg.net/oahelper/
GET THE RESEARCH
Get the peer-reviewed research on any topic. Free, complete,
powered by #openaccess and AI.
From @unpaywall and @ArcadiaFund.
https://gettheresearch.org/
CORE
CORE’s search engine and index for aggregated research
publications from repositories and journals globally. Developed
by JISC and the Open University it offers access to around 133
million articles.
https://core.ac.uk/
SCIENCE OPEN
Science Open contains over 37 million articles, a large part in open
access.
http://www.scienceopen.com/
DOAJ
The Directory of Open access Journals offers access to over
10.000 open access journals.
https://doaj.org/
BASE
Bielefeld Academic Search Engine and index for academic
resources contains around 120 million documents. Around 60 %
of its indexed content is open access.
https://www.base-search.net/
Composed by UG/UMCG, as a general guideline to help individual researchers in getting access to the PDF of an
article, in case access via their own institute is difficult. Please consult your own university (medical) library for
more specific information. Updated March 2023.
HOW TO
GET THE PDF? 3/4
Overview of possible alternatives to get a pdf of the
full text of scientific papers. From the use of browser
plug-ins, general and specific open access search engines
and sources, to even more possibilities.
1FINDR
1findr is a commercial platform for searching articles in peer-
reviewed journals which also offers a free version. This version
allows no advanced search option apart from narrowing results
to include open access articles only.
https://1findr.1science.com/home
DIMENSIONS
Apart from searching for publications and the possibility to
search for cited and citing articles, Dimensions also index
grants, patents, and clinical trials. The free version offers limited
possibilities.
https://app.dimensions.ai/discover/publication
OPENAIRE EXPLORE
OpenAIRE (Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe)
Explore is an open scholarly communication and Open Science
infrastructure harvesting research output from connected data
providers.
https://explore.openaire.eu/
OSF PREPRINTS
OSF offers access to over 2 million open access preprints.
https://osf.io/preprints/
ZENODO
Zenodo is an open archive developed by CERN where
researchers can deposit publications, preprints, software, and
research data.
https://zenodo.org/
ALTERNATIVES - OPEN ACCESS BY DISCLIPINE
BIOLOGY
BIORXIV
bioRxiv is an archive for open access preprints in the life
sciences operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
https://www.biorxiv.org/
HUMANITIES
HUMANITIES COMMONS
The Humanities Commons CORE repository is intended for
open access articles, monographs and other publications and
resources in the humanities.
https://hcommons.org/
MEDICINE
MEDRXIV
MedRxiv is the preprint server for Health Sciences.
https://www.medrxiv.org/
PUBMED CENTRAL
PubMed Central® (PMC) is a free full-text archive of biomedical
and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes
of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
PHYSICS, MATHEMATICS, COMPUTER SCIENCES
ARXIV
arXiv is a preprint archive mainly for physics, mathematics,
computer sciences and related sciences.
https://arxiv.org/
Composed by UG/UMCG, as a general guideline to help individual researchers in getting access to the PDF of an
article, in case access via their own institute is difficult. Please consult your own university (medical) library for
more specific information. Updated March 2023.
HOW TO
GET THE PDF? 4/4
Overview of possible alternatives to get a pdf of the
full text of scientific papers. From the use of browser
plug-ins, general and specific open access search engines
and sources, to even more possibilities.
MORE OPTIONS
REQUEST PDF VIA LIBRARY
This might not be free, but it's a fast option, and often much
cheaper than buying it from the publisher.
https://www.rug.nl/library/borrowing/borrowing-from-other-
libraries
REQUEST COPY VIA AUTHOR
Request a copy from the author directly: often not the
fastest way, but traditionally a well-used route to get PDFs.
You can try ReseachGate or Academia. Some institutional
repositories of academic libraries have this feature too.
https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-
pure/sharing/
BUY FROM PUBLISHER
You can of course BUY it from the publisher or journal itself ...
HASHTAG #ICANHAZPDF
Use the hashtag #icanhazpdf together with a link to the
requested publication; if somebody has access, they can
send you the PDF.
WHAT ABOUT SCI-HUB?
If all else fails, you may be tempted to use Sci-Hub. Do realize,
however, that in many countries, including The Netherlands, the
use of Sci-Hub is considered as an illegal act, as it involves
content protected by copyright laws and licensing contracts.
?
QUESTIONS? NEED HELP?
Please contact us, if you need help using one or more of these
tools or tips. Also if you notice something is wrong.
e-mail: [email protected]
website: https://www.rug.nl/openaccess
Composed by UG/UMCG, as a general guideline to help individual researchers in getting access to the PDF of an
article, in case access via their own institute is difficult. Please consult your own university (medical) library for
more specific information. Updated March 2023.
