Full-text Linking: Affiliated versus Nonaffiliated Access in a Free Database

Abstract

This article presents a comparison of access to full-text articles from a free bibliographic database (PubSCIENCE) for affiliated and unaffiliated users. The authors found that affiliated users had access to more full-text articles than unaffiliated users had, but the maximum level of full-text access achieved directly through PubSCIENCE was 45 percent. Both affiliated and unaffiliated users could increase their level of access to full-text content by using alternative avenues for access above and beyond use of the database linkage. However, such additional searching requires a higher level of information literacy on the user s part.