Is it ? A teacher’s guide to obtaining a scientific paper (without getting ripped off)

Yes No Josh Rosenau ncse.com

Check Pubmed. Is there an open access version?

Yes No

Does it come up when you search Your school librarian Google for the title of the paper (put or local public it in quotation marks) and PDF? librarian may be able Download (e.g.: “Nothing in biology makes to help you with it, share it. sense except in the light of fancier search evolution” pdf) What if you search techniques to narrow for the title on scholar.google.com? down the results.

No

Are you on ? Send a tweet with your contact info, a link to the paper, and the #icanhazpdf. Did someone send you the paper?

Note that the ethics of using #icanhazpdf or SciHub are being actively Yes No debated, and SciHub's legal status is…murky. Skip ahead if that makes you uncomfortable.

Search sci-hub.io. Yes Is the paper there?

Delete the No tweet.

Is the author's email Yes address listed?

Yes

Email and politely request a copy. Repeat Anywhere along the with co-authors if the first line here you might author is intransigent. write to your members Did that work? of Congress and suggest that they broaden requirements No that federally-funded research be made available under open access rules. Wouldn't Is there an academic that make this all so Yes library nearby (college, much easier? community college, etc.)?

No

Yes

Try the nearest state university library.

Contact a research librarian. Can they access the paper and send you a copy?

No

Do you have friends or former professors at a Yes university that might have access?

Yes

Email and politely request a copy of the No paper. Did that work?

Yes No

I dunno, maybe just Hurray! spend the money I guess.