By Lene Hald
CBS Library provides full-text access to huge volumes of research articles but not all. So how do you proceed, if you happen upon a title that is not readily available from the library collections and if you don't have the time to go through an (otherwise quick) interlibrary loan process? Alternative legal options do exist!
Most publishers allow for the uploading to a repository of an ‘accepted version’ (i.e. after peer-review and before publisher’s layout) of research articles. These articles rarely appear on the first page when you do a Google search – but in many cases, they exist and are free and legal to read and download.
Unpaywall and Open Access Button are both tools that search repositories around the world to help you find these ‘hidden’ versions of articles.
How do they work?
Unpaywall offers a browser extension that will tell you immediately if the desired article is available or not. A small lock will appear on the right-hand side of the browser. If it is grey and locked, no accepted version is available, but if it is green and open, you can click the lock to access an available version of the article.
To see an example of a green lock:
- Install the browser extension
- Turn off the VPN connection to the CBS network
- Open this page (article example)
- Click the green lock on the right-hand side of the browser to access the article
Open Access Button works in a similar way but the Button stays on the top of your browser.
All you have to do is click the Button and it will take you to an available version of the article, if such a version exists.
Download the Open Access Button
If you have any questions about these tools or about Open Access in general, please send an e-mail to oa@cbs.dk