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Those affiliated with academic institutions are among the privileged few who have unfettered access to knowledge. Because of this seamless availability, many are unfamiliar with the cost of individual access.
For this activity you will attempt to determine the cost of purchasing individual access to all of the articles referenced in a recent paper you have written or read.
Begin by selecting the academic paper you want to review.
Turn your attention the list of references cited in the paper and attempt to locate copies of the articles online as if you were not affiliated with an academic institution and could not use the library as an access point.. You may need to locate these articles on publisher websites. In this case, note the cost of purchasing individual access to the article. Keep a running tally of costs you would need to pay in order to read all of the articles on the reference list you have selected.
Note that some (or all) of the articles cited may be available as open access content, either through publication in an open access journal, or archived in an online repository. So long as these copies appear to be legally posted, they do not contribute any dollar amount to the total cost.
Go Incognito
Note that even if you are not using a library website to search for articles, a publisher’s website may be able to authenticate you based on your IP Address. In order to ensure you are not inadvertently accessing the articles via your institutional subscriptions, consider using an incognito browser window.
Complete this Activity
After you complete the activity and have determined what if any cost there would be to accessing the research please share the amount along with a brief insight outlining the process of locating the articles, their availability online, and if results aligned with your exceptions going into the activity.
Image Credit: Official Receipt on White Paper by Michael Walter. Licensed under the Unsplash License