No Access? Your Options
Table of contents
Use a Browser Extension
Browser extensions provide links to open access versions of a document while browsing.
Lean Library
Lean Library by the provider SAGE publishing can be downloaded and installed without special permissions. We recommend the browser extension to UZH members of the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, Law, Theology and Business, Economics and Informatics.
When searching the Internet, Lean Library recognizes when the user reaches a website with content licensed to UZH. If he/she is outside the UZH network, Lean Library enables the connection to the product to be established so that it can be used. Lean Library can find journal articles as well as e-books. In this way, Lean Library supports UZH members in accessing licensed content from home.
The pop-up can be deactivated at any time and reactivated if required. Behind the cogwheel, various other setting options are hidden.
You can find instructions on the website of the Zentralbibliothek Zürich: How Lean Library works
LibKey Nomad
We recommend LibKey Nomad by Third Iron for UZH members of the Faculties of Medicine, Science, and Vetsuisse. The extension is suitable for searching scientific and medical journal articles.
Unpaywall und Open Access Helper
We recommend Unpaywall (for Chrome and Firefox) and Open Access Helper (for Safari) for all those who do not have access to the E-Library of the UB or the Zurich Central Library.
Search Engines
Insert the title of the text you are looking for in quotation marks to obtain hits that correspond exactly to the syntactical structure you had entered. Ex: "problematic use of the internet during the COVID-19 pandemic."
The CORE Discovery and BASE search engines specialize in open access versions of articles.
If you know the DOI or Pubmed ID of an article, you can also search for an accessible full text via LibKey.io.
Social Networking Services
ResearchGate and other social networking platforms offer contact options - contact the author and ask directly at the source for a copy of their article, or if the article is freely available on another platform.
Use the Interlibrary Loan Service of the UB and the ZB
If you have no access to the full text via our E-Library, you can order the article using the order form of the University Library Zurich (UB) and the Zentralbibliothek Zürich (ZB). Requirement for using this service is a registration with SLSP.
Fees may apply when using this service. Contact us if you have any questions or need help: fernleihe@zb.uzh.ch.