Access to journal articles?

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Childdoconeday

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Now that I am no longer in grad school, I am wondering how can I gain access to journal articles so that I can stay up to date on research in our field?

Does anyone have any websites/services that are affordable that they can recommend?

Thanks!

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Many medical schools give out zero-comp adjunct appointments like candy. Just do some networking. They may be cracking down a little now because of the broader discussion RE: adjuncting (though that primarily relates to teaching positions on the university side of things). We recently did a purge and there were people with appointments in our department that not a single member could identify. One was dead and had been for a not-insignificant amount of time.

There is even a joke about how becoming a Harvard professor is the easiest thing in the world...just get a PhD in anything from anywhere and move to Boston.
 
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It's probably worth checking out if your local library offers any journal access. Some libraries around me offer access while a person is connected to their wifi!
 
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1. Some alumni associations provide a mechanism for at least partial library privileges - can't hurt to ask
2. Adjunct faculty appointment, as others have suggested
3. Review for one of the big publishers (Springer, Elsevier, etc.) and get some limited period of access (usually at least 30 days)
4. The PsycNET subscriptions from APA gives you access to all the APA journals for a reasonable annual fee
5. If you are near a medical school or academic medical center you might be able to access materials in person
6. If you find an abstract to an article you want to read but can't get access through the above channels, try reaching out directly to the author via email or ResearchGate
 
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The state university I attended for my post grad certificate actually allowed anyone to use the library. You had to show picture ID to get a guest login to use the computer (and access library materials such as databases and journals). If there is a public university or school locally near you, you could ask if that is an option. Not all schools allow the public to access things though.
 
A) Google Scholar can be pretty damn good.
B) There is a website that gets you almost any journal article for free (note: it runs afoul of most copyright laws).
 
6. If you find an abstract to an article you want to read but can't get access through the above channels, try reaching out directly to the author via email or ResearchGate

I’ve done this recently even though I do have access to many journals! It works especially well if the article you need is recent (within the past few years or so), so you can reasonably assume the main author(s) is/are still at the same institution and active. Older articles might be tougher.

And I echo the Google Scholar comment. After grad school, Google Scholar became my best friend and is much faster to locate articles than signing into databases, although the results will include articles from non-psychology journals. Whether the article is available is hit or miss, but I still use it more than online databases I have access to, and only use them as a backup.
 
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As a BCBA, I am able to access ERIC/ProQuest literature searches as well as full text of ABA related Wiley journals through my account page on the BACB website. It's a very nice benefit of the board certification.
 
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