How to Get Journal Articles for Free!

Three easy options to read that paper :)

I just found out that HeinOnline is making $34.99 per download on the back of my hard work, as a student. Salt in the wound, I paid thousands of dollars in tuition to write those papers, and now a huge corporation is making money off my painful law school experience (ok, I admit I loved writing those papers, #nerd ). I don't see a penny of it. And neither do any of the other authors when you pay for their articles.

Do you need a journal article but it's behind a paywall? These options rarely fail me:

1. Is it originally from a school journal? Likely their repository is open-access. If not...

2. Email a friend at another University who may have access to the publication (not all Unis purchase packages with the same databases).

3. Email the author directly asking if you can have a copy. Briefly and politely explain why you are excited to read their paper and how it's relevant to your work.

Here is an example of Option 2: You can find both my law articles for free in the UC Law Environmental Journal for FREE. Many other schools do this as well.

Partnering Law & Biodiversity for Healthy Coastal Communities: Restorative Ocean Farming

Radical Legal Change: Moving Toward Earth Law

As an added bonus, maybe you'll expand your professional community by getting in touch with those authors. And while many professors/scholars/researchers are terribly busy, it's nice to know someone is interested in our work.

Good luck with your research, my friends.

May the gate-keeping of knowledge not stand in your way!

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