Open Access (OA) resources are freely available publications, examples include academic journal articles, books, conference reports and PhD theses.
There are no content fees or subscription charges, and this free access encourages sharing of knowledge so everyone can benefit from reading and using research.
This guide will provide you with a list of resources to access freely available, academic research papers.
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Good quality OA publications undergo a peer review process. This means they have been quality-controlled and assessed by experts in their subject. Reputable publishers will clearly show their quality control system for publications. Look for:
You should always evaluate any information you use. Further information on evaluating sources can be found in the Research Skills libguide.
Look out for the Open Access symbol, and beware academic social networking sights like ResearchGate and Academia.edu. Not all articles have been uploaded legally, and may be in violation of the terms of the publishing agreement thus infringing copyright rules.
You should be aware that these academic networking sites are host to fake publishers, and 'ghost' journals. These journals are termed 'predatory' or 'hijacked' and are of questionable academic quality, without peer review or editorial process (Memon, 2016).
Add the Unpaywall app to your Chrome browser, and search for content that you can use legally. Sources include open content hosted by publishers, and university repositories.
When you see the green tab beside a research article, click it to read the full text. The tab will be gray if the full text is unavailable.
Use Open Access Button to look for for free, legal research articles. It searches thousands of sources to instantly link you to free, legal, full text articles. Search by title, URL, DOI or citation.
If Open Access Button cannot find a copy of the article, it requests a copy directly from the author.
Use the website or download the Chrome browser extension.
Don't forget, you have access to subscription based databases with our online library, giving you access to thousands of research articles, journals and e-books.