Why is Kopernio advertising in EndNote X9? Is this a new EndNote service? Do I need to respond in some way?
Kopernio is a free browser plugin available on the web that can automatically connect a university community to its journal subscriptions for speedy article downloads. If no subscription is found, Kopernio then seeks an open access version. There are multiple sources for open access content. For example,
- fully open access peer-reviewed journals, such as those from PLoS or BMC journals, provide the final publisher’s PDF version;
- PubMed Central provides a PDF of the NIH Public Access Policy version of the published paper; and
- repositories provide either a preprint (the pre-peer-reviewed version) or a publisher’s final PDF, depending on the copyright agreement.
Clarivate Analytics purchased Kopernio in April 2017 to integrate into Web of Science. This addition of Kopernio moves Clarivate closer to a comprehensive research lifecycle system. Touting “one-click access to PDFs” through university resources, Google Scholar, PubMed and other sources, Kopernio hopes to dominate the academic search market.
Viewed through Web of Science, Kopernio automatically labels links to either the publisher’s full text or an open access version from a repository.
In Google Scholar, Kopernio produces a green PDF link when HSLS has a subscription.
HSLS strives to deliver full text quickly, supplying the publisher’s PDF or “version of record,” the version fundamental to the scholarly record. Through HSLS Document Delivery, the published PDF is available to eligible users at no charge for articles not in our collection.
Kopernio does have a few trade-offs. Once the plugin is installed, searches are slower. It may be preferable to disable Kopernio when not in use. One of the problems reported to Kopernio is that saved PDFs disappear: they are not automatically saved to the EndNote.Data folder. These technical issues will be resolved in time. In the meantime, there is no need to use Kopernio with EndNote unless experimentation is enjoyable!
Read more about open access tools on the HSLS Scholarly Communication Guide under the Open Access tab, or contact Andrea Ketchum at ketchum@pitt.edu or 412-648-9757.
~Andrea Ketchum