Skip to Main Content

Q. I need a journal article but the site asks for payment. How can I get access?

How can I bypass a publisher paywall? 

Answered By: Beth Juhl
Last Updated: May 23, 2024     Views: 332

That can be really frustrating! Here are some steps to try to locate a copy of the article without paying:

  1. Check OneSearch or Article Finder to see if the Libraries has a copy.
  2. Try the Open Access browser extension Unpaywall.
    Unpaywall is an open database of more than 28 million free scholarly articles from more than 50,000 publishers. 
    Unpaywall harvests data from services like DOAJ and CrossRef, from institutional repositories, and from monitoring individual journals for OA content.  Unpaywall gathers all the Open Access articles it can find into one database, so you don’t have to search multiple places in hopes of finding a free copy of an article of interest.
    Unpaywall offers a browser plugin for Chrome and Firefox to let you check for open full text automatically.
  3. Still no luck? Request a copy of the article through our ILLiad Interlibrary Loan service.
    Interlibrary loan is a fast, free service to students, faculty and staff at the University of Arkansas.