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American Chemical Society (ACS) Publications: Guide to Access for APSU

Access: ACS Publications

Unlimited Subscription Access

Woodward Library subscribes to current access for over twenty journal titles in the ACS Core Plus Package (click link for complete title list), archival access (content published up to 1995) for journals in the ACS Legacy Archives (click link for complete title list), and the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication.

Metered Access Through ACS Tokens

What are tokens?

Tokens are metered counts for every time you read or download an article or chapter from an American Chemical Society journal that is not free through Open Access or part of the APSU subscription.

How do token expenditures work?

Every time you read or download an ACS article or chapter that is not free or included in the APSU subscription, a token is expended. ACS charges us a fee for each token used, on top of our subscription fee for unlimited access to our "Core" titles. Example: If a metered access article is downloaded or viewed 6 times, we will expend 6 tokens. APSU has a limit of 250 tokens per year.

  • Content accessed using a token can be accessed across different users for one hour; after the one hour, another token will be expended.
  • E-books consume tokens by the chapter.
  • Tokens cannot be used to access ACS In Focus.

How can you tell if you're expending a token?

In the results list within the ACS search interface, the article will be marked "Token Access." Articles that are part of the APSU subscription will be marked "Subscribed."

How can you limit token expenditures and help us manage APSU resources wisely?

  • Read the abstract first: Read the abstract to make sure the article is what you need before viewing or downloading the full text.
  • Download an article only once: If you plan to refer to an article multiple times, download it to your personal storage space; do *not* reopen the article multiple times within ACS.
  • Practice search skills, but don't expend tokens while you're practicing: When practicing or demonstrating search skills in the ACS journals search interface, limit your searches to journals in the ACS Core jornal collection (these provide unlimited access to current content).

Questions? Contact Michael Hooper.