Creating Direct Links to Journal Articles

Providing links to online journal articles allows the sharing of content protected by copyright without needing to seek permission. (For more information on copyright, see http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/copyright/index.html.) Links can often be made via Digital Object Identifier (DOI), direct URL, or another path particular to the online provider.

• Digital Object Identifier (DOI ®): The most persistently accurate way to share, cite, and link to an electronic document is to use a digital object identifier (DOI). A DOI link is preferred even if the URL for the article works; URLs frequently change, but DOIs are permanent. DOIs are provided for many articles in Science Direct, MD Consult, SpringerLink, Wiley-Blackwell Interscience, OVID, and many other online providers. To make a link to an article, append the DOI (the numbers and letters following doi: in the citation) tohttp://dx.doi.org/. For example, the link to doi:10.1016/j.acra.2008.04.004 is http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2008.04.004.
• URL: When there is no DOI, the easiest way to link to an article is to copy the URL from the bar at the top of the browser. Highwire, MetaPress, Springer, Wiley-Blackwell, and ScienceDirect URLs will usually work (but remember to check for DOIs). Some online providers use temporary session URLs that won’t work later, so special procedures are needed to link to their articles.

• EBSCOhost: Copy the URL in the Persistent Link to this Record (Permalink) field in the full record for the article.
• OVID: If no DOI is given, click on Email Jumpstart. Copy the URL that appears in the box at the top of the page labeled Your Jumpstart URL is.
• Test your links. Before publishing a link, test it in several web browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.) to make sure it works. It is also useful to test the link on another computer, in case a cookie on your computer is allowing access.
• Access to resources licensed by the Library is restricted to current students and employees of The University of Arizona. Valid users who access online resources from off campus must log in via EZProxy; without authentication, most links will not work.