[unlockingsanity]

There is a website called Research Gate that houses the various research papers from different fields. I noticed that my therapist has papers on the site, but they are not available to the general public. You have to prove that you're part of a research group or your part of the University etc., and was wondering if by chance anyone here has been able to log in and read any of these papers and if so how they did it. I am very interested in reading on this type of information but I'm not sure that it's possible to read it.

I just stumbled across it tonight and I'm so eager to read so many other things on the site. If anybody has any suggestions, please let me know. If I find anything else out I will repost it here. Thanks!

[Leah123]

I'm a university student and have access to a number of research paper/article/book databases. They're available to students of most colleges these days, though some schools/levels have access to more than others. If you want to send me a message w/your therapist's name, I can log onto my school library and see what's available to copy and paste for you, if you'd like.

[Lauliza]

Are they articles posted in medical journals? I can also try to help if you want to send me the name of your therapist.

Sent from my BNTV400 using Tapatalk

[stopdog]

You could try going to a library (I would try university first) and seeing if the reference librarian could help.
As an academic, I have seen our librarian help the public find articles on databases the person could not search themselves.

[unlockingsanity]

Leah was able to access the site for me

It's so annoying. I mean, why can't everyone have access to these sites? If you want to limit who can comment or make accounts, that's fine, but information should be free to all....just my opinion.

[stopdog]

I would think it is money (universities have all sorts of subscriptions etc) rather than worry about comments etc.

Originally Posted by stopdog

You could try going to a library (I would try university first) and seeing if the reference librarian could help.
As an academic, I have seen our librarian help the public find articles on databases the person could not search themselves.

I have worked as a university librarian, and that was something I did fairly often. You can phone or email a university library as well, and ask to get copies of articles - although that can be rather expensive. If you go to the library and read the article in the journal or on a library computer, it usually doesn't cost anything, it's just getting paper copies that's expensive.

I would do that rather than try to access ResearchGate. I don't find RG very useful at all; in my field, at least, the articles that are uploaded to RG are those that don't make it to peer-reviewed journals, and many academics use RG as a kind of advertising platform for themselves, which I find completely pointless. People who are published in journals can add that to their ResearchGate CVs, and add links to the articles, but those articles are not actually "on" ResearchGate and I don't think you can read them through RG unless you also have access to the journal through other means, such as a university. (I'm not quite sure about that last, though.)

[unlockingsanity]

Originally Posted by Mastodon

I have worked as a university librarian, and that was something I did fairly often. You can phone or email a university library as well, and ask to get copies of articles - although that can be rather expensive. If you go to the library and read the article in the journal or on a library computer, it usually doesn't cost anything, it's just getting paper copies that's expensive.

I would do that rather than try to access ResearchGate. I don't find RG very useful at all; in my field, at least, the articles that are uploaded to RG are those that don't make it to peer-reviewed journals, and many academics use RG as a kind of advertising platform for themselves, which I find completely pointless. People who are published in journals can add that to their ResearchGate CVs, and add links to the articles, but those articles are not actually "on" ResearchGate and I don't think you can read them through RG unless you also have access to the journal through other means, such as a university. (I'm not quite sure about that last, though.)

Yeah, I agree about Research Gate. I didn't even know that RG existed until I randomly Googled my therapist out of complete boredom and saw that T had a few things posted there. That's the only reason I wanted to access those articles.

I used to have access through my alumni account from a university, but it's been forever since I used it and I don't remember my login info anymore. I just wish info was available free on the web. I mean, going to a library only to read the info online anyway.....seems like overkill. More so for me because it's quite a drive to my local university library.

[Yoda]

You might try google scholar. Google Scholar Or a similar search site.

Often you can read the abstract for free and pay to see the entire article.

You could probably call your alumni library and find out how to retrieve your login information. That way, you can get lots of good stuff....

About the topic in general - I agree with Mastodon (not that I could argue with a librarian anyway ) that websites such as Research Gate can really dilute the research in the field. I also think sites such as RG are also the sources of misinformation that go around sites such as PC. But, it is also true that some journals release the information to the public/free sites after a certain period of time, and there are also some researchers who want their stuff widely read, or who want to share the information on their website, and so will allow others to access for free.

When I am feeling lazy, I use sites like this anyway. I use Google Scholar too.

Pub Med is a good public resource for finding free articles:

PubMed Help - PubMed Help - NCBI Bookshelf

I just wish info was available free on the web.

Free open access is becoming more common. MIT is just one of many reputable organizations that shares free information:

MIT OpenCourseWare | Free Online Course Materials

So, just because it's free doesn't necessarily mean it's not of high quality. Knowledge can be thought of as social capital, so everyone (society) can benefit through the positive externalities of shared information. That is the idea.

Ooh, just remembered this one. This funny therapy cartoon author has the very best collection I've seen online so far:

Research papers | Therapy Tales

If you are interested, have fun with this link.