Elsevier have recently announced that they are now providing 50 days of free access to any newly-published article.

When an article is published authors are sent a special link, or ‘Share Link’, which they can use in their social media profiles (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, ResearchGate, Mendeley, LinkedIn, etc.). Anyone clicking on the Share Link will be given access to the article without having to register or pay fees, for a period of 50 days following publication.

According to Elsevier, the benefits of the scheme include the following:

• Authors get 50 days free access to both the html and pdf version of their own article.

• By sharing the link via their own social media accounts and email, authors can generate extra interest in their article.

• The process is simple for the author and their connections – if they click on the link during the 50-day free access period, no registration is required.

• The article becomes more visible, which has the potential to increase downloads and citations.

It is expected that the scheme will be available to the majority of Elsevier journals by mid-2014.

Image: © Anna Creech (eclecticlibrarian @ Flickr) | CC BY-NC-SA