Are you tired of putting your institution’s emails to research journals for accessing research papers for free? Worry no more because we have sorted the matter for you, by putting up a list of free resources that you can use for placing references in your term papers or dissertations.
Just focus on writing what you are best at, and let us find the pond for you to catch the fish.
Types of Research Journals
There are usually two kinds of research journals, free and paid ones, that researchers use to access papers. However, some journals offer free access to a large amount of articles stored in their repository like JSTOR.
It allows you to read up to 100 articles per month for free and, alternatively, pay a subscription fee for unlimited access to articles and downloadable PDFs. On the other hand, journals like Sage and Science Direct charge to read articles from them.
You can search for papers on the Wiley Online Library as well for your research essays, but it is a paid platform. Moreover, some journals are subject-specific, like one platform for scientific papers and another for literary papers.
Now, let’s learn how to access research papers for free using different sources.
How to Access Research Papers for Free?
There are different ways to access research papers for free using different sources like open-access journals and Google Scholar. Let’s discuss each one to have a clearer view of each source and its reliability.
You just need to access these sources by hopping on the listed platforms and reading articles to find references for your research studies.
Open Access Journals
Now, you can access as many research papers as you want using open-access journals like CORE, DOAJ, SpringerNature, PubMed, Paperity, etc. These journals allow researchers to legitimately read and use research studies for their projects without paying a penny to anyone.
Let’s discuss the top journals for accessing research papers.
CORE
CORE is the world’s most voluminous collection of open-access research papers, enabling researchers to find references and enhance their knowledge for free. It has a collection of more than 219 million research articles with a link to the full text and a downloadable PDF.
It offers advanced search options for users to find articles by entering the DOI number of the paper, the name of the author, or the publication journal in the search bar.
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
The DOAJ website was launched in 2003 with the aim to increase the visibility of open-access, peer-reviewed articles globally, irrespective of language and geography. It has more than 2 million open-access research articles in its directory, serving students from different fields of studies, ranging from social sciences to biological sciences.
It is a multidisciplinary community-curated directory serving researchers with abstracts and full-text articles without any cost. You can find relevant studies according to your selected research methodology for free here.
PubMed
If you are a medical or a scientific researcher, then PubMed is the best place for you to access research papers. It was launched in 1996 to enable researchers to access more than 33 million citations related to biomedical from lifesciene journals to e-books.
It does not provide every paid article at a glance, but it hits you up when your required article is available through PubMed Central, containing citations and abstracts that it can provide to you. It also allows you to search the required topics through advanced search options using the author’s last name and publication number of the research article.
Paperity
Paperity is the first open-access journal and paper aggregator serving students of multiple disciplines. Its main aim is to provide researchers with free access to peer-reviewed or quality content to support their arguments based on authoritative research studies.
Its repository has articles for every field of study that you can search using several search options, such as the length of the paper and the number of authors. Its website and mobile app are available to help researchers work across devices with ease.
Google Scholar
What’s better than using Google Scholar to find research papers to use as references for your projects without breaking the bank? Believe in their motto and “stand on the shoulders of giants” to use quality and reliable pieces of information in your study.
It has millions of articles available with free access to conduct research studies without putting your emails for subscription at every platform. According to ResearchGate, Google Scholar has more than 160 to 165 million documents in its search repository. So, access your required research paper for free now on Google Scholar.
Conclusion
Use the following open-access journals and similar sources to access research papers for free to conduct sound studies. Now, scroll through several free articles available on your subject without subscribing to every platform to write your papers with ease. If you are still unable to find relevant content for your research papers, you can always opt for professional services like BuyAssignmentOnline to do it for you.