Editor’s Note: Today’s post is by Heather Staines and Tracy Gardner. Heather is Senior Consultant at Delta Think and Director of Community Engagement for the OA Data Analytics Tool and a former President of the Society for Scholarly Publishing. Full disclosure, Heather manages Publisher Outreach for GetFTR. Tracy manages marketing and communications for GetFTR.

Get Full Text Research (GetFTR) was launched in 2019 with a simple but important mission: to make it easier for researchers to move easily from discovery of academic content to full-text access. Five years later, the service has expanded to include more publishers, integrators, and technology partners, and strengthened ties with the library community.

To mark this anniversary, we brought together four librarians for a conversation about how GetFTR is working in practice, its value to libraries and researchers, and what opportunities lie ahead.

Our participants were:

• Erika Boardman (EB), University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• Judith Gulpers (JG), Erasmus University
• Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe (LJH), University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
• Sandeep Kumar Pathak (SKP), Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER)

Streamlining the Research Journey

We know that researchers often face barriers when moving from discovery to full-text access. In your experience, how does GetFTR help streamline this journey?

SKP: At IISER, we use IP-based authentication with remote VPN access. GetFTR helps researchers go straight to the content and confirms access before they click. It covers journal articles, book chapters, and open access content, saving time and reducing frustration.

LJH: I’ve been impressed by how clearly GetFTR communicates institutional access. Many researchers don’t realize their subscription gives them full access, and communicating that it is through their institution brings to the fore the value that the library is providing to its user community. I also value that GetFTR chose not to signal “no access,” which could have been misleading when many libraries provision full-text content on demand through interlibrary loan/document delivery.

Are there any insights or feedback on GetFTR that surprised you? Have you been able to promote the GetFTR Browser extension to your users and are there challenges associated with promoting research tools to your community?

JG: The GetFTR browser extension is one of the tools mentioned on our ‘Access to the online collection’ webpage and I explain about the GetFTR buttons during my orientation/ training classes. Researchers like this button as they appreciate all signposts to full text content.

SKP: GetFTR clearly benefits readers, researchers, and educators alike by broadening the reach of academic work. The GetFTR browser extension is well known and actively used within our academic community — it is featured on the library web pages, and we regularly highlight it during orientation and training sessions

EB: The main challenge is getting researchers to install the browser extension. Our students, faculty, and researchers are all very busy and it can be difficult to get participation with something new that requires them to set something up on their own. If it could be activated automatically for campus users, it would be easier to gain momentum.

LJH: I was surprised by the traffic increase publishers see after integration. It shows how often researchers abandon searches when the discovery-to-access journey is confusing. The value proposition for a publisher to integrate GetFTR is tremendous.

How well do you feel GetFTR supports the library’s role in ensuring access to the version-of-record and promoting research integrity? Are features like retraction indicators or article-level access signals helpful in practice?

JG: I think the retraction indicators are useful, although I don’t know how often researchers encounter them. The article level access is helpful, because it’s more granular than our link resolver. We see more publishing models where a book is published chapter by chapter and we have access to the chapters published in a particular year, but not to the chapters published in the next year.

EB: GetFTR does very well in ensuring access to trusted, up-to-date content — and I absolutely love the retraction indicators! In this day and age, it can be difficult to identify what content is trustworthy and/or the most current version, and this tool provides the clarity that I think we all are looking for during the research process.

SKP: Absolutely. GetFTR plays a valuable role in helping the library provide unfettered access to the right content by clearly indicating whether a researcher has access through the institution’s subscription. Indicating whether content is open access makes it easier for users to find freely available resources. Features like retraction alerts are increasingly important — as libraries, we have a responsibility to ensure that the content we provide is not only accessible but also trustworthy and up to date.

GetFTR was built through collaboration among publishers, discovery services, librarians and technology partners. From your perspective, how inclusive has that collaboration felt? Do you believe the library voice has been well represented?

JG: I only recently joined the board, so I cannot say anything about the collaboration yet. But I like that librarians are well represented.

EB: GetFTR actively listens to the library community. Early on, I provided feedback through online forms and directly to one of the product directors, and I genuinely felt the collaborative nature that this product encompasses. Everyone I’ve spoken with has been exceptionally receptive and open to new ideas to build upon the amazing work they’ve been doing.

SKP: As a librarian, I can say that we’ve been actively involved in the journey of GetFTR, and it’s been a very collaborative experience. We truly appreciate the efforts made by GetFTR, especially the inclusive approach that brings together publishers, integrators, technology partners, and other key stakeholders. Feedback mechanisms are strong and everyone I have interacted with has been receptive and open to new ideas to build upon the great work already in place. It’s encouraging to be part of a community that values input from librarians and is genuinely committed to enhancing access for users.

LJH: While I appreciate that GetFTR has rectified its initial misstep of excluding librarians from the initial collaboration, I believe that this has had an impact on the project and work needs to continue in order to overcome the damage from that. I appreciate that GetFTR welcomed me to the table after my piece in The Scholarly Kitchen laying out library concerns, and I am pleased that my feedback has shaped the strategy and design decisions over the years.

Looking ahead, GetFTR is in the process of developing a suite of library tools. What else should GetFTR focus on to better support libraries and their users, whether in discovery, licensing transparency, open access, or other areas?

JG: It would be great to see usage statistics, like where do researchers click the GetFTR button.

EB: I think more user-focused promotional materials could be very helpful. Step-by-step instructions that we could provide and adapt for our own institution would make it easier to guide faculty and students. If ready-to-use materials were available to download or receive by mail, promotion would be simpler and likely more effective.

SKP: It’s great to hear that GetFTR is working on developing a suite of library tools. Looking ahead, it would be exciting to see GetFTR integrate additional features, such as dynamic author h-indexes, real-time journal impact factors, usage statistics, discovery service integration, and tools related to licensing and open access. Expanding in these areas could make GetFTR an even more comprehensive and valuable resource for libraries and academic communities.

In conclusion….

Five years on, GetFTR has become a trusted partner in scholarly communication. It simplifies workflows, supports research integrity, and reinforces the value libraries provide to researchers. As librarians continue to provide feedback and guide development, GetFTR is well-positioned to grow in both reach and functionality, supporting the researcher on the journey from discovery to access of scholarly content.