Free Access to Online Physics Journals for Students?

jp2009

I am a student from a third-world country. How can I access the APS and other online journals? In my country most students dont have a .edu email address. Any idea where I can access such kind of valuable knowledge? Also, I have seen that most of the reasearch papers are locked behind a sub-wall? Any particular reason why?

I really love to read new stuff. Unfortunately, I am not privileged to study in an american or a british college. I just came across this link on the PhysicsForums about free access:

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=419118

But I am not able to access these journals? What should I do?

eri

You can't access them because the journals charge a subscription fee which most universities would pay for you. You can access some for free if they have been posted at http://www.arxiv.org . Those you should be able to access from anywhere.

cristo

Does your university library have subscriptions to the journals?

jp2009

Nope. it doesnt. :(

jtbell

It costs money to produce a scientific journal.

jp2009

But if researchers start posting themselves electronically, then wouldnt it be free?

Clever-Name

Researchers publish in high end journals for a reason, it isn't just about getting your work out there, it's about having your work recognized in a decent journal. That usually means people have to pay to read it.

jp2009

That is true. Actually what happens here is that the universities here dont offer us these logins. We do not get access to such valuable knowledge. :( I am sure that America and Europe too would be having at least a few researchers who cant afford to pay these sub-wall fees. I would really like to access all knowledge but cant due to monetary and then political reasons. Alas..

Clever-Name

I can't possibly imagine in America/Europe researchers having trouble paying the sub-wall fees. My university provides campus-wide access to 99% of the journals out there. My professor I worked for during the summer had stacks of research journals on his desk every day, all of which are not free.

As already pointed out, arxiv.org is probably your best bet for accessing journal articles. The exceptional papers on the arxiv end up in these high-end journals anyway (as far as I know, someone can correct me if im wrong). So you're basically getting a free-screening of the papers that might end up in Physical Review, or Nature, etc.