Graduation is an important and exciting time of change for many students. Sadly, one of these changes may involve losing access to many Duke resources such as library subscriptions to journals and databases.
Before You Lose Access
- Go through your saved citations and PDFs and decide which ones you want to keep. If there are any articles that you would like to get PDFs for, do this before you leave while you still have access to free full text.
- Evaluate your citation manager needs before you leave. If you are using Endnote, double-check that you have the most current version on a personal device. This access will last you for a couple years, but you will have to repurchase it at some point for approximately $250. Free citation management options, like Zotero, are excellent alternatives!
Suggestions for Free Resources You Can Use
Duke OneLink
Duke graduates can use their NetID and email account for one year after graduation; however, your NetID will no longer allow you to access the same software, journal articles or databases that you can while you are a student. The alumni office is offering a very limited set of resources that require you to set up a Duke OneLink Account. These resources are not medically focused, but they are worth checking out since they are free.
Resources through the Library
Though you may be leaving Duke, you will still have access to the Llibrary's Website! Under the Guides section of our site, there are resources for helping you conduct research, using databases, writing and citing, and finding and accessing things like images. These curated guides frequently point to free resources found around the Internet. The tools for staying current can be super useful for keeping up with new research in your field. Our Duke Alumni Services page may also be useful.
Free Clinical Tools for Health Professionals
Though this Libguide provides a full list of free resources, the following are worth special mention.
- PubMed Central, a sub-section of PubMed, is guaranteed to have full text articles. Since critical appraisal is important, keep in mind that not all of the articles will be from peer-reviewed journals. The PubMed database will always be freely available to you, but full text access provided via Duke subscriptions will not be available once you leave Duke.
- Endnote Click can be aded to your browser to automatically check if there is an open access version of the article you want. The open access version may be the author's manuscript or a preprint instead of the final published version.
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) has free full text for a variety of vetted open access journals covering many subjects and languages.
Additional Resources to Consider
- Join your NC Area Health Education Center (AHEC): If you will remain in North Carolina, you should consider joining the AHEC and the AHEC Digital Library. For a yearly fee, AHEC members have access to a suite of databases, journals, and other digital resources.
- Contact the Regional Medical Library (RML) in your area: To find out what resources and services are available to you, contact the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) at 1-800-338-RMLS (7657), Mon-Fri from 8:30a-5p.
- Explore your local university library: Some college and university libraries allow the public to use their resources if you are physically in the library. It's worth a call or email to find out what the library's access rules are.
- Investigate your public library: Public libraries often subscribe to a few health databases like CINAHL, and they may also have a means to obtain full text articles.
- Review organizational membership perks: Some professional organizations, like the American Physical Therapy Association, offer access to databases or certain journals as a part of their annual memberships.
