Open Access Finder
Paste DOIs — or a reference list that contains them — and see whether each article is open access, which kind, and where its best free copy is: the publisher's page or a repository, with the PDF link, the version and the licence. The data comes from OpenAlex, an open index of scholarly works, and only covers the copies it has indexed. Free, no sign-up.
Up to 100 DOIs per run, looked up on OpenAlex — fifty to a request — from your browser.
Paste DOIs and press Check open access.
How to Use the Open Access Finder
- 1. Paste your DOIs. One per line, written as
10.1371/journal.pone.0115253,doi:10.…orhttps://doi.org/…. A pasted reference list works too: the DOI in each line is picked out, and lines without one are marked. - 2. Press Check open access. The DOIs go to OpenAlex fifty to a request, up to 100 per run.
- 3. Read the table. Each DOI gets its status, the best free copy OpenAlex knows of — the article page and the PDF where there is one — and that copy's version, licence and host.
- 4. Copy the table into a spreadsheet if you are checking a reading list, a syllabus or a funder's open-access requirement.
What the Open-Access Statuses Mean
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Diamond | Published open in a journal that charges neither readers nor authors. |
| Gold | Published open in a fully open-access journal. |
| Hybrid | Free under an open licence, such as CC BY, in a subscription journal. |
| Bronze | Free to read on the publisher's site but with no open licence, so the publisher can withdraw it. |
| Green | The publisher's version is not free, but a copy sits in a repository such as arXiv, PubMed Central or a university archive. |
| Closed | No free copy that OpenAlex knows of. |
Statuses follow OpenAlex's definitions. Gold and diamond depend on the journal, not just the article, so the same freely readable article can be gold in one journal and hybrid or bronze in another.
Versions and Licences
A free copy is not always the final article. For each copy OpenAlex reports which version it is:
- Published version — the publisher's typeset article, the version of record.
- Accepted manuscript — the author's final text after peer review, before the publisher's copy-editing and typesetting.
- Submitted version — the preprint as first sent to the journal, before peer review.
Cite the version you actually read: if it was a preprint or an accepted manuscript, most styles ask you to cite that version, or to check its text against the published article first. The licence says what you may do with the copy — CC BY allows reuse with credit — while “no licence listed” means free to read, not free to reuse.
Three DOIs as OpenAlex reported them when this page was written
10.1371/journal.pone.0115253 — Gold
“Scholarly Context Not Found: One in Five Articles Suffers from Reference Rot” (PLOS ONE, 2014): the published version is free on the publisher's site under CC BY.
10.1073/pnas.0507655102 — Green
Hirsch's 2005 h-index paper in PNAS: OpenAlex lists no free copy on the publisher's site, but the author's preprint is on arXiv, as a submitted version.
10.2307/1914185 — Closed
Kahneman and Tversky's 1979 prospect-theory paper in Econometrica: no free copy indexed.
If There Is No Free Copy
“Closed” means no free copy that OpenAlex has indexed — one may still exist. These legal routes usually get you the full text:
- Your library. Sign in through your university or public library, which may subscribe to the journal or deliver a copy for you.
- Interlibrary loan. Libraries lend articles to each other, often free for students and staff and usually within a few days.
- The author's own copy. Look for the paper in the author's university repository, on their own web page or on a preprint server in their field.
- Ask the author. A short, polite email asking for a copy for your research is a long-standing practice, and most authors are glad to send one.
For more ways in, see How to Access Academic Journals (Legal Full Text).
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I know if an article is open access?
- Paste its DOI into the Open Access Finder: OpenAlex reports whether the work is open and how — diamond, gold, hybrid, bronze or green — and links the best free copy. On a publisher's site, look for an open-access or Creative Commons label; a free PDF with no licence is bronze.
- What is the difference between gold and green open access?
- Gold means the publisher makes the article free in a fully open-access journal. Green means the journal's version is not free, but a copy — often the accepted manuscript — has been put in a repository. Both are legal; a green copy may differ slightly from the published text.
- Is a green open-access copy the same as the published article?
- Not always. A repository may hold the submitted version from before peer review, the accepted manuscript from after it, or the published version itself. The table shows which version the best copy is, so you know what you are reading and citing.
- Why does it say closed when I found a free PDF?
- OpenAlex only reports copies it has indexed. A PDF on a personal website, a course page or a repository it does not cover will not show up, and a newly posted copy may not be indexed yet. Read “closed” as “no free copy known to OpenAlex”.
- What is OpenAlex?
- A free, open index of scholarly works, authors, journals and institutions, run by the non-profit OurResearch. Its open-access statuses follow the method of Unpaywall, its sister service for finding legal free copies of research.
- Is anything I paste stored?
- No. Your browser sends the DOIs straight to OpenAlex's public API at api.openalex.org; nothing goes to CitationEasy, and nothing is kept once you leave the page.