Find Open Access scholarly articles online for free
The topic is peer-reviewed scientific articles (primary or secondary literature). Also, we’ll assume that you’re not searching for a paper from an Open Access publisher. Let’s also assume that library holdings / subscriptions at your institution have gaps–they do not cover every journal in your field over every possible time period.
Then, Bagley’s Law of Scientific Publication Access is:
“When you need an article, you will not have free access to it, but you will have access to plenty of articles that you don’t want and you don’t need.”
– Justin Bagley, Brasília, 22 Nov. 2015
Of course, I wrote this while think of Murphy’s Law, which it is related to (also see the book). Some might even consider this to be a special case of Murphy’s Law! haha.
PS: Here’s a version shortened for a tweetable tweet: “When you need an article, you won’t have free access to it, but you’ll have access to plenty of articles you don’t want and you don’t need.”
~J