While the library provides access to over 70,000 scholarly journals, there will be times when you will need access to a journal not available through the library’s subscriptions.
Below are several ways to legally get access to scholarly journal content beyond our subscriptions:
Increasingly scholarly articles are becoming available on an open access basis, often through institutional repositories like our own ARAN or through discipline-based repositories such as arXiv (Physical, Mathematical and Computer Sciences) or SocArXiv (Social Sciences) . The article version on these repositories will usually be the final draft post-refereeing (also known as the post-print), so the only difference to the published version is the absence of the publisher's type-setting, formatting, logos and pagination. Several tools, services and browser plug-ins have been developed to help you find open access versions of journal articles:
EndNoteClick formerly Kopernio – another browser plugin from Clarivate Analytics that will link you to open access versions of articles as well as library subscriptions. It is necessary to register (for free) to use this plugin.
The Library’s Inter-Library Loan service can get a copy of material you need that the Library doesn’t own or subscribe to through our cooperative agreements with other libraries. Journal articles are normally delivered within 2 days of request and are often available within a few hours.
Authors are permitted to share post-print copies of their published articles and are often happy to do so. ResearchGate and Academia.edu are both platforms that facilitate making contact with researchers and requesting copies of their articles. As mentioned above OpenAccessButton.org also makes requesting an article from an author very easy.
The Library proactively supports and enhances the learning, teaching, and research activities of the University. The Library acts as a catalyst for your success as University of Galway’s hub for scholarly information discovery, sharing, and publication.
Library
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Galway, Ireland
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