What's in this Article:
How to Start Reading for Free
When you have a free personal JSTOR account, you can read 6 articles online for free every 30 days. JSTOR has temporarily increased the number of total available articles you can read online for free from 6 to 100 per month.
When you click on an article you would like to read online, there is a banner at the top of the page that tells you how many free article reads you have remaining for the period. Please note that according to publisher policies, not all articles are included in the free online reading program.
- To get started, create a free personal account.
- Search for articles (results will default to content you can access).
- Click the "Alternate access options" button underneath the title of the article then select the "Read Online" option (only eligible articles will include this option).
- Once you've clicked "Read Online," you will see an arrow appear to the right of the article viewer
- Click these arrows to "turn the page" to read! As soon as you click "Read Online," you have 30 days to read this article, plus 5 others, for free.
Your personal account can also help you organize your research. Read more about how: Organizing your research with Workspace
How to Find Articles You've Read in the Past:
If you previously read an article that you would like to reference or read again, you can find a record of the articles you have read under the "Free Article Views" section of your personal account drop-down menu. You must be logged in to be able to view this section. Confirm that you are logged in by finding your name in the top right corner of the page.
To find your articles, hover over or click on your name, and select "Free Article Views" from the menu that opens.
You can also click "Free Article Views" on the left side of the screen if you are in your profile view:
You will be redirected to your "Free Article Views" page, where you will be able to click on the article titles you've selected to read them again.
Note that under "Free Article Views," you can see how long it will be until your 6 article reads reset. You can read 6 articles every 30 days. JSTOR has temporarily increased the number of articles you can read online for free from 6 to 100.
From the first time you click "Read Online" to read an article, you have 30 days to use any remaining articles before the article count resets, and you can proceed to read new free articles.
For example, if you read your first article on April 15th, your 30-day period begins and lasts until the available article count will reset on May 15th of the same year. If you read another article within the same time period, for example on April 30th, the reset has not yet occurred. Your available article count would still reset on May 15th, and you have until then to read your remaining articles.
What happens when your countdown ends/How can I remove articles?
While it is not possible to "remove" items from your "Free Article Views" until after your article count resets, you can read available articles for free when a new article count cycle begins.
Return to your research at any time. When the 30-day article count cycle has ended, all articles that you had read online will move to "Previously viewed articles" section of the "Free Article Views" page so that you will not lose your research. If you want to read the same article again in a different 30-day cycle, you can click on that article to read, noting that this would count as an article view for the current month's count as well.