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Twitter: @JSTORSupport

Accessing JSTOR

Using MyJSTOR

Using JSTOR Content

  • There are many detailed searching tips available in our Tutorials section, from how to use quotations to search exact phrases to searching plural terms efficiently. We recommend you take a look at our search documentation for some ideas.

    If you are seeking assistance with searching or finding articles on a specific topic, we encourage you to contact your local librarian. While several JSTOR employees have specialized knowledge about a wide array of topics, reference librarians are trained to guide you through the research process. If you are a student, faculty or staff member at one of our participating institutions, please contact your library directly for assistance. If you are unsure whether your question qualifies as a reference question, please feel free to contact JSTOR Support.

  • A great way to check your authentication status is to look for a line of text in the top right corner of any JSTOR page. Underneath the JSTOR logo you will see a line of text that reads

     “Your access to JSTOR provided by X.”

     If you don’t see this line of text, you are not authenticated and will need to follow the access methods established by your institution.

  • As a member of a participating institution, you might have access to JSTOR from an off-campus location. This is something that you will need to check with your library, although you can sometimes check through our Institution Finder feature. In many cases, in order to access licensed library resources like JSTOR from an off-campus location, it is necessary to log on via your library's web site. Check for a link to your library's remote access option on the JSTOR login page, or visit your institution's website and look for links to the library, online databases, or electronic resources to find options for access to JSTOR. If you are unable to locate this option at your institution, or if you need additional assistance, please contact your librarian or electronic resources administrator to learn about getting remote access to JSTOR.

  • When you visit www.jstor.org/action/showLogin the right side of the page is dedicated to our Institution Finder feature, which allows you to login remotely through your institution.

    1. Look for the name of your institution on the geographical list of institutions on the login page. There may be a link to your library's remote login page. If not:
    2. Go directly to your participating library's website and click on their JSTOR link.

    Note: Search for "JSTOR" or look under "databases," "off-campus access," "proxy server," or "Virtual Private Network" (VPN).

    1. You should be prompted to log in using your student username and password.
    2. After logging in to your library's system, you should be taken to the JSTOR website.

    Note: Not all institutions offer remote access. You might only have access to JSTOR from a campus location. If you have problems accessing JSTOR remotely, please contact your librarian for help.

  • Some participating universities and colleges offer online access to JSTOR for alumni. Alumni from participating institutions gain full access to the same set of archive collection content available to all current students and faculty at their institutions. Find out if your alma mater participates in this program.

  • JSTOR offers a variety of access options for individuals, and they are all covered in our Individual Access Support section.

  • JSTOR works with publishers to offer access to specific titles for society members and independent researchers. Individual access to journals in the JSTOR archive can also be provided by participating publishers. Information on how to access your individual journal subscription is covered in our Individual Access Support section.

  • JPASS gives you personal access to a library of more than 1,500 academic journals on JSTOR. If you don’t have access to JSTOR through a school or public library, JPASS may be a perfect fit.

    With JPASS, a substantial portion of the most influential research and ideas published over centuries is available to you anywhere, anytime. Access includes a vast collection of archival journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Coverage begins for each journal at the first volume and issue ever published, and extends up to a publication date usually set in the past three to five years. Current issues are not part of the JPASS Collection.

    Get a 1-month or a 1-year JPASS access plan and start your research today. For specific questions regarding the use and maintenance of your JPASS, please visit our Individual Access Support section.

  • MyJSTOR is a free account that allows you to experience more JSTOR content. Anyone can register for an account to:

    + Read content available in Register & Read
    + Manage individual purchases
    + Manage usage statistics (for library administrators)

  • You can create a MyJSTOR account by hovering over the MyJSTOR tab in the top-center of any JSTOR page and selecting "Profile" from the drop-down menu. This page will prompt you to register if you are a new user.

    MyJSTOR Registration

    Once you have completed the registration information and received a confirmation email, you will be able to log in to your personalized MyJSTOR account.


  • JSTOR now offers new and improved citation management options including preformatted citations in multiple styles (MLA, APA, and Chicago), exporting of citations in formats compatible with common citation management software, and social sharing options that enable both emailing and sharing of article links via social channels. 

    On an article level page, you can access these options by clicking the blue “Cite This Item” box in the upper right corner.

     Cite This Item

    A pop-up will appear with the option to copy the citation in one of three pre-formatted styles (MLA, APA, and Chicago), or to export it as an RIS or TXT file, depending on your research management software.

     Citation Options

    From a search results page or an issue Table of Contents, you can select multiple articles and click the blue “Export Citations” button to export the citations as an RIS or TXT file.

     Table of Contents Export

    Previously saved citations are no longer be accessible via a MyJSTOR account and the Saved Citations page has been removed. If you did not export previously saved citations and need them, please contact JSTOR Support. Until the end of 2015, the support team can email your previously saved citations to you, upon request.

  • In most cases, logging into MyJSTOR does not provide access to JSTOR content. For some users at small institutions and secondary schools, or alumni association members, MyJSTOR accounts may also be configured to provide JSTOR access in addition to providing the functions described above.  If you are not sure if this describes your situation, it is always a good idea to contact your librarian or electronic resources coordinator for more information.

    MyJSTOR accounts provide access to free content through Register & Read. They also provide access to single article purchases, individual subscriptions, and to JPASS content.

  • You can make administrative updates to your MyJSTOR account, such as email changes or password updates, by selecting “My Profile” from the MyJSTOR drop-down menu in the top-center of the screen. The only exception is your MyJSTOR username. Once you create an account, the username cannot be updated.

    MyJSTOR Administrator

    Deleting Your Account
    If you would like to delete your MyJSTOR account for any reason, please contact JSTOR Support with your request.

  • In order to download or print most JSTOR PDFs, you will need to follow the prompt to accept JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions. You need to do this only the first time you interact with a PDF in any given session. If you have any additional questions not covered here, please contact JSTOR Support for assistance.

    Saving + Downloading

    To download or save a JSTOR PDF, click the blue “Download PDF” button in the top right corner above the page view.

    A prompt to accept the Terms and Conditions of Use will pop up. When you click the link that says “Accept JSTOR's Terms and Conditions and proceed to PDF,” a PDF viewer will pop up.

    Terms + Conditions

    Once the article PDF is loaded in the viewer, you will have the option to save a copy by selecting the download icon in the grey navigation bar (Firefox).

    PDF Navigation Bar

    If the item does not open in PDF format, right click (or control click for Mac) on the PDF link, and save the file. Then open it in a PDF viewer.

    Note: If you have not yet accepted the Terms and Conditions of Use in a session, the download will produce a corrupted file. Simply click on the "PDF" link (which opens the Terms and Conditions of Use window), select "Proceed to PDF," and then follow the steps to save the PDF file.

    Printing

    Because JSTOR uses high-resolution images to store and display pages, you cannot print item pages by using the "Print" button on your web browser. To print an item, you must first open the item in your PDF reader by following the instructions above under "Saving + Downloading". Once the article PDF is loaded in the viewer, you will have the option to print a copy by selecting the print icon in the grey navigation bar (Firefox).

    PDF Navigation Bar

    Note: If you use your web browser to print your item, the printout will be of poor quality, parts of it may be cropped, and the printed copy will contain all of the web page objects that appear around the item.

  • If you get an error message that your PDF is corrupted, it generally means that the download timed out. This could be due to a slow internet connection or a large file download size. Sometimes articles with images contained in them will cause the download to time out.

    You can right click on the "PDF" button and select "Open in New Window" (or "Open Link in New Window" for Firefox). Then right click on the link "Proceed to PDF" and select "Save Target As..." (or "Save Link as..." for Firefox). This lets you save the PDF directly to your computer and allows for a successful download.

  • While we host journal and book content in the JSTOR archive, JSTOR does not publish these journals or books or have full rights to the materials contained in the JSTOR archive. We recommend that you contact the publisher of the journal or book for permission information. See a current list of our partner publishers. Contact information, if available, can be found by following a publisher’s name link on that page.

    You may also gain permissions through the Copyright Clearance Center sometimes, if the publisher opts to manage the process this way. In the right rail of any given journal article, there is a link that says “More Rights Options.” This link takes you to the Copyright Clearance Center, where you may have the option to purchase the rights to the article. If the link does not resolve to these options, then you will need to contact the publisher directly with your request. 

  • While nearly all of the journals collected in JSTOR are peer-reviewed publications, our archives do contain some specific primary materials (like some journals in the Ireland Collection and the 19th Century British Pamphlet Collection). Also, some journal content is much older than today's standard peer-review process. This means that, though all the information in JSTOR is held to a scholarly standard, not all of the publications are technically "peer-reviewed." At the current time there is no way to search JSTOR for only peer-reviewed publications. We often find that if you have questions concerning the academic legitimacy of a particular journal or book, your institution's librarian or your course instructor may be best able to answer those inquiries.

  • While JSTOR provides access to journals in the archive, we do not publish these journals. JSTOR is an organization that works with publishers to digitize the back files of scholarly journals. If you are looking to publish your work, you may be interested in contacting one of our participating publishers directly. See a list of our participating journals and links to publisher contact information.

  • It is a priority for JSTOR to ensure that our website and the content we archive is available and accessible to all of our users. We have made every effort to ensure that our image-based PDF files are accessible and can be read with screen readers like JAWS. These files are tagged at a high level using an automated process. While this method is not exact, it dramatically increases the accessibility of the files as compared to an untagged version.

    In the event that the PDF tagging described above is not sufficient for your use, we can perform manual tagging on a limited number of articles for you. If this is a service you need, please contact JSTOR Support with your request. Please include the citations for the articles you need tagged.

    Limit of three articles per request
    Turn around time is three days per request

    We are continually seeking to improve our website and enhance accessibility. Please let us know if you have any comments or suggestions. Read more about JSTOR accessibility policies and procedures.