A paywall is the "you cannot access this information without paying" message you get sometimes when you click on an interesting research article. They mean that the journal in which that article was published is not part of any journal access package our library pays for.
Whenever you see a paywall, first make sure that you are logged into your JagMail account in that browser. You first need to check that the journal site knows that you are part of the University of South Alabama.
If the site knows you are part of USA, but you still have "you must pay" message, there are still some ways to try to get free, legal access to that article:
Inter-Library Loan is a service provided by USA Libraries.
You can request that an inaccessible article be emailed to you. Please submit requests quickly because it can take up to 10 days to receive the article. Also, article PDFs will only be accessible for 30 days after the PDF was made accessible to you.
You can use Google Scholar to find versions of articles that you can access for free. Google Scholar can tell you in the search results if you have access to an article through USA Libraries or if a free version of the article has been uploaded elsewhere to the internet.
Whenever you use Google Scholar, make sure to be logged into your JagMail account on that browser. Google Scholar will then understand that you have access to USA Libraries.
In Google Scholar, you can search by author, article title, or subject.
1. Search Google Scholar. Find an article in which you are interested.
2. Select the "Full-Text@USA" option below the article you want to read. You might need to click on the arrows to show this option. You may also see a PDF option to the side of the article's search result.
3. If you do not have the "Full-Text@USA" option, please make sure you are signed into your JagMail email on your browser. If you are signed into your JagMail, and you do not have a PDF option or a "Full-Text@USA" option, then you do not have access to that article through Google Scholar. You can still try to request access to the article through Interlibrary Loan.
Open Access browser extensions can be added to your browser to help you find open access versions of articles. Sometimes, an article that is behind a paywall is freely (and legally!) accessible elsewhere on the internet. A version of the article may have been uploaded to an institutional repository or to a government site.
Open Access browser extensions are just one more tool to find accessible articles. Different extension options are listed below. Choose whichever version has the most natural layout for you.