- STEP 1Free legal copyWe check Unpaywall, OpenAlex, CORE, Europe PMC, Semantic Scholar, arXiv, Zenodo and more.
- STEP 2Research4LifeCheck your institution's free or low-cost journal access.
- STEP 3Write to the authorAuthors can usually share their own paper for research use.
- STEP 4Volunteer helpA researcher abroad helps you find preprints, theses or the author.
Find your paper
Add LARA to your browser
Install the LARA extension for Chrome, Edge or Brave. On any journal article page, click the LARA icon in your toolbar and LARA checks that paper for a legal free copy. You can also highlight a DOI or a title, right-click, and choose "Find on LARA".
- Unzip the downloaded file.
- Open chrome://extensions (in Edge: edge://extensions).
- Turn on Developer mode.
- Click Load unpacked and choose the unzipped folder.
- Click the puzzle icon in your toolbar and pin LARA.
On a phone, or can't install extensions? Use the bookmark button
Drag this button to your bookmarks bar. When you're on a journal article page, click it and LARA checks that paper for a legal free copy.
On a phone, bookmark any page, then edit the bookmark and paste the button's code as its address. You can also install LARA on your phone's home screen from your browser menu.
Saved papers
Papers you save stay on this device, so you can open the links later, even on a slow connection.
Check a whole reference list
Paste up to 40 references, one per line or separated by blank lines. LARA finds each one's DOI, then you can check them for free copies.
| # | Reference | Best match | Free copy |
|---|
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Find a journal for your paper
Tell us what your paper is about. LARA looks at which journals published similar research in the last eight years, and shows their fees, whether they're open access, and whether they're on trusted lists.
Journals not on any quality list: check very carefully
These journals published papers on your topic, but none of them appears in DOAJ or the national and international lists LARA checks. Some are fine; some are "predatory" journals that take a fee and publish without real peer review. Ask a supervisor before submitting to any of them.
Data: OpenAlex and DOAJ. Fees and policies change, so always confirm them on the journal's own website before you submit.
Your first paper, step by step
- Pick three journals. Choose ones that publish papers like yours and that you can afford. Rank them: a dream journal, a realistic one, and a safe one.
- Read the Guide for Authors. Every journal has one. It tells you the word limit, the sections to include, how to format references and how to submit. Follow it closely: editors notice.
- Check the journal is real. Is it on DOAJ or a national list? Does it have a real address, and editors you can look up? Be careful with journals that email you asking for papers, promise publication in days, or ask for money before peer review. Think. Check. Submit. has a simple checklist.
- Polish your paper. Ask a supervisor or colleague to read it. Check every reference: LARA's Reference list tab can help you find them.
- Write a short cover letter. Three or four sentences to the editor: what you found, why it matters, and why it suits this journal.
- Submit on the journal's website. You'll create an account and upload your files. Send your paper to one journal at a time: sending the same paper to two journals at once isn't allowed.
- Wait for the editor. The editor may reject it quickly without review. That's common, and it frees you to try the next journal. Otherwise it goes to peer review, which often takes weeks to months.
- Answer the reviewers. You'll usually be asked to make changes. Reply to every comment politely, one by one, and say what you changed.
- Rejected? Keep going. Use the feedback, improve the paper and send it to the next journal on your list. Many published papers were rejected somewhere first.
- Accepted! Check the proofs carefully. Then share your work: post your accepted manuscript where the journal allows, and add the paper to your ORCID profile.
Ground rules
- No sharing of subscription PDFs. Library licences forbid passing articles to people outside the institution. Breaking them can cut off access for a whole university and puts the volunteer's account at risk.
- Look for a free legal copy first. Many paywalled papers have an accepted manuscript in a university repository, on arXiv, Europe PMC or the author's page. The check does this for you.
- Check Research4Life. Universities, polytechnics and research institutes in most African countries can register for free or low-cost access to journals through Research4Life (Hinari, AGORA, OARE, GOALI). Eligibility depends on the country. Ask your librarian whether your institution has a login.
- Write to the author. Most publishers let authors send their own paper to individual researchers. A short, polite email usually works within a few days.
- Volunteers help you search and ask. They find preprints and theses, identify the corresponding author and can write to the author on your behalf.
- Be kind. Volunteers give their own time. Mark a request received or withdraw it when you no longer need it.
Published version, accepted manuscript, preprint: what's the difference?
- Published version
- The final article as it appears in the journal, with the publisher's layout and page numbers.
- Accepted manuscript
- The author's final text after peer review, before the publisher's copy-editing and layout. The science is the same; wording and page numbers can differ slightly.
- Preprint
- A version shared before or during peer review. It may change after review, so check whether a published version exists and say which version you read.
When you cite, cite the published article (with its DOI). If you only read a preprint or accepted manuscript and quote from it, check the quote against the published version if you can.
Concerns
Use the Report button on any request to flag a problem. Publishers and others can also write to:
the site operator
Reports to review
Errors in people's browsers
Crashes are recorded automatically. The same error is counted, not repeated. Forward anything unclear to whoever maintains the code.