A substantial amount of what researchers either pay for or go without is available free.
The difficulty is not cost. It is knowing the resource exists — which is a solvable problem.
Literature
- Open access repositories hold accepted versions of a great many papers.
- Preprint servers in most fields.
- Emailing the author — they are generally pleased to send it.
- Regional access programmes providing subscription access to institutions in eligible countries.
- Check what your institution already subscribes to — many researchers do not know.
Tools
- Free reference managers.
- Open source statistical and analysis software, widely used and fully capable.
- Free repositories for data and code, issuing identifiers.
- Free version control hosting.
- Institutional licences you may already have access to.
Training
- Institutional research development units.
- Library training on data management, publishing and literature searching.
- Free online courses in methods and statistics.
- Professional society training, often discounted or free for members.
- Regional and national training programmes.
Publishing support
- Fee waivers, which are more widely available than assumed.
- Language support offered by some publishers.
- Institutional publishing funds.
- Free-to-publish venues, of which there are many good ones.
- Ask before assuming a venue is unaffordable.
Funding for meetings
- Conference registration waivers.
- Travel bursaries, particularly for early career researchers.
- Society funding for members.
- Institutional travel funds.
- Online attendance where travel is not possible.
How to find these
- Ask your library — the most underused resource in most institutions.
- Ask your research office.
- Ask colleagues what they use.
- Check professional society membership benefits.
- Most of these are not advertised; they are answered when asked about.
One thing worth remembering
Ask your library.
Libraries hold access agreements, training, publishing support and data services that most researchers in the same institution do not know exist — and they are generally glad to be asked, which makes it the highest-return question available.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
How can literature be accessed free?
Open access repositories, preprint servers, emailing the author who is generally pleased to send it, regional access programmes, and checking existing institutional subscriptions.
What free tools are available?
Free reference managers, open source statistical software that is widely used and fully capable, free repositories issuing identifiers, and version control hosting.
Where can free training be found?
Institutional research development units, library training on data management and publishing, free online methods courses, and professional society training.
What publishing support exists?
Fee waivers more widely available than assumed, publisher language support, institutional publishing funds, and many good free-to-publish venues.
What is the highest-return question?
Asking your library — they hold access agreements, training, publishing support and data services most researchers do not know exist.
