Unpaywall FAQ

Paper version definitions
Unpaywall reports three categories of paper version, based on the DRIVER Guidelines v2.0 VERSION standard (with our descriptions) PublishedVersion: The do...
Thu, 21 Feb, 2019 at 12:47 PM
What do the types of oa_status (green, gold, hybrid, and bronze) mean?
Unpaywall assigns an OA Status to every article, which you can find in the oa_status field of the API and dataset. There are five possible values: closed, g...
Wed, 1 Dec, 2021 at 2:12 PM
Why does the Unpaywall plugin say this paywalled article is Open Access?
In addition to using our API, the browser extension looks for a PDF link directly in the page content and, if one is found, displays it as a Bronze OA icon....
Tue, 8 Jun, 2021 at 8:13 AM
How do we decide if a given journal is fully OA?
We set the oa_status of an article to “gold” if that article is published in a fully OA journal. We have three steps to decide if a given journal is fully O...
Tue, 29 Dec, 2020 at 9:13 AM
How do I read JSONL files?
The Simple Query Tool and database snapshot provide results in the JSON Lines text format, or JSONL. Each line of the file is one JSON dictionary representi...
Tue, 25 Feb, 2020 at 3:11 PM
Unpaywall Change Notes
This page will summarize important changes to our methodology and data sources that we expect to significantly affect the Unpaywall dataset.  2021-06-30...
Wed, 30 Jun, 2021 at 6:10 PM
Link Resolver Integrations
Unpaywall is used as a data source in several third-party link resolvers, for example SFX, EBSCO Discovery Service, and 360 Link....
Wed, 4 Aug, 2021 at 11:51 AM
What does is_paratext mean in the API?
Almost anything can have a DOI, so Unpaywall indexes a lot of things besides the journal articles most people use it for. This can be a problem for analyses...
Mon, 3 Feb, 2020 at 4:12 PM
Which DOIs does Unpaywall cover?
DOIs can be created by one of several Registration Agencies. The Unpaywall dataset only covers articles issued by one: Crossref. If you're looking for a...
Tue, 12 Jan, 2021 at 9:49 AM
Can you index my journal?
Probably! We automatically find and index new journals so it's likely there is nothing you need to do.  To check if your journal was already discove...
Wed, 20 Jul, 2022 at 8:38 AM