How can I get a paper if our library is not subscribed to the journal?

Question

I am a PhD student writing my thesis, and desperately need some specific papers which are not accessible via our library subscription. I contacted the authors to get a copy from them but some didn't reply. There were not available in free repositories and buying the articles from the publisher is too expensive for me.

Is there any possibility for getting a few papers you need?

Have you area the habit of using Arxiv? Most of the papers I've read are on arxiv for free. That a look http://arxiv.org/ — Just a Guy, Apr 21 '17 at 01:36
Does your library or an on-site library keep the prints of the actual journal issues? You can just go photocopy or scan the relevant materials if so. — CKM, Apr 21 '17 at 03:24

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 21 '17 at 02:59

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My university has an inter library loan system where I've been able to submit requests for copies of an article. It requires entering citation information about the article and I have seen requests returned in a week or so. Sometimes the requests are digital, sometimes they are physical.

answered Apr 21 '17 at 02:59

Andrew Jackson

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Digital requests (the most common way, IME for articles or chapters) can sometimes be insanely quick—I've occasionally had same day— especially if you provide exact citation information. Norm for me is 2-4 days. Books...can take a while. Note that students (and even faculty!) can be limited in ILL requests at some libraries as they aren't cheap. IIRC from talking with a librarian even getting a scanned copy of a journal article can run them $20-40. – user0721090601 Apr 21 '17 at 03:53

How can I get a paper if our library is not subscribed to the journal?

1 Answers1