---
title: "A New Browser Plug-In Lets You Access Millions of Scientific Papers for Free"
description: "Accurate information has never been easier to access."
date: "2017-04-25"
modified: "2017-04-25"
authors:
  - name: "Dom Galeon"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/domgaleon"
url: "https://futurism.com/a-new-browser-plug-in-lets-you-access-millions-of-scientific-papers-for-free"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "information"
  - "open source"
  - "science journals"
  - "unpaywall"
---

# A New Browser Plug-In Lets You Access Millions of Scientific Papers for Free

![unpaywall science journals free information open-source](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/GettyImages-486722166.jpg>)
*A terminal screen containing digital padlocks arranged in a grid. One of the padlocks is open and glowing in a yellow hue, the rest is closed and glowing in a blue hue. The padlocks are situated on top of many rows of encoded data. \<em\>Image: \<a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/license/486722166" target="\_blank"\>Getty\</a\>\</em\>*

## Free Information

Getting blocked by a paywall can be irritating, especially if you're trying to access peer-reviewed scientific research. Open access advocates would certainly think so. To paraphrase Richard from HBO's "Silicon Valley," who doesn't want free information? Well, there may now be a way to get scientific publications for free — and it's completely legal.

\[infographic postid="37146"\]\[/infographic\]

[Open-source nonprofit Impactstory](<https://impactstory.org/about>), funded by the [National Science Foundation](<https://www.nsf.gov/>) and the [Alfred P. Sloan Foundation](<https://sloan.org/>), has developed a [web browser plug-in called Unpaywall](<http://unpaywall.org/>), and as the name suggests, it's a way to get through to paywalled research papers for free.

"Now more than ever, humanity needs to access our collective knowledge, not hoard it behind paywalls," [according to Unpaywall's website](<http://unpaywall.org/faq#who-is-behind-this>). "Lots of researchers feel the same; that's why they upload their papers to free, legal servers online. We want to help bring that open access content to the masses."

## Super Legal

Unlike similar services that rely on means like automated web scraping, Unpaywall's method of getting full-text access to scientific journals is totally legal. It scans a database of more than [90 million digital object identifiers (DOIs)](<https://oadoi.org/faq>) for copies of papers that the researchers themselves have uploaded, whether on some pre-press servers or university websites. Unpaywall is also completely secure, as it doesn't ask you for any personal information.

Best of all, to use the service, you just need to [install the plug-in](<http://unpaywall.org/>) on your Chrome or Firefox desktop browser. A little lock symbol will appear every time you visit a journal article's landing page. If the lock is green, you have access to a full-text copy of the article. A gold lock means an article already has open license access from the publisher.

![Image credit: Unpaywall, screenshot](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Screen-Shot-2017-04-24-at-11.08.21-PM.png>)
*Image credit: *Unpaywall, screenshot**

"We’re able to deliver an OA copy to users more than half the time," Jason Priem, one of Unpaywall's creators, [told ](<http://www.chronicle.com/article/How-a-Browser-Extension-Could/239714>)*[The Chronicle of Higher Education](<http://www.chronicle.com/article/How-a-Browser-Extension-Could/239714>)*. He's excited for the service to hit critical mass: "That’s when people start thinking, 'Hey, why are we paying millions of dollars to subscribe to tens of thousands of journals when our researchers have about a better-than-even chance of reading an article with no subscription at all?'"

A service like Unpaywall's can help [fight the flood of fake news](<https://futurism.com/in-science-there-are-no-alternative-facts>) or unverified information. It's a fact-checking tool that's readily accessible to anyone with an internet connection and the appropriate web browsers. Truly, the only thing worse than no information might just be information that's false.

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-john-galeon-9b086925/>)  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/domgaleon>)