What do the icons mean when I am trying to access a paper?

Papers on Read by QxMD are either open-access or behind a paywall, which can be accessed by connecting Read to your institution. To make it easier for users to know whether or not they should have access to a paper, we've added different icons to indicate the status of the paper. Below, you can find the icons that apply to you based on if you have used the Institutional Access feature to connect the Read app to your institution (university or hospital). Institutional Access allows you to gain access to all the papers your institution is subscribed to. If you would like to setup your Institutional Access, please follow these guides: Mobile FAQ & Web FAQ.

Without Institutional Access

1. PDF Access: The unlocked lock icon indicates that you have access to the paper. "Full Text PDF" means that there is a PDF that is available to download and read for the article.
2. Webpage Access: The unlocked lock icon indicates that you have access to the paper. "Full Text Webpage" means that we have found a webpage online where you can read the article.
3. The unlocked lock icon indicates that you have access to the paper. The "Full Text PDF" and "Full Text Webpage" messages mean that the article can be viewed and downloaded as a PDF file or viewed on a webpage.
4. The question mark icon indicates that you may have access to the paper you are trying to access. To see if you do have access, you can try the links provided by our crawler by clicking on "Additional Full Text links". If the link does not work, that most likely means the article is behind a paywall, which you would need to login to access. 
   

With Institutional Access

1. The unlocked lock icon indicates that you have access to the paper. The description indicates the paper you are trying to access is an open-access or free paper.
2. The institution icon indicates that you have access to the paywalled paper because you have connected to your institution.
3. The lock icon indicates that you have do not have access to the paywalled paper because your institution does not have a subscription to the paper.
4. The question mark icon indicates that you may have access to the paper you are trying to access. To see if you do have access, you can try the links provided by our crawler by clicking on "Additional Full Text links". Because you have connected to your institution, you will be provided with more links to try than if you were not connected.

We'd love to hear what you think about the application or if you have any ideas that could help improve the Read experience! Please feel free to share your thoughts through this quick survey!