---
name: legal-open-access-search
description: Locate legitimately accessible scholarly full texts and distinguish author manuscripts, preprints, and publisher versions.
---

# Legal open access search

Use when a user wants a lawful accessible copy of a paper or needs to understand available versions. Start with verified title, authors, publication year and identifier; confirm candidate records against these details before presenting links.

## Find and assess copies

Check the publisher's article page and recognized repositories, such as institutional, subject, funder, or author-hosted archives. Use open-access discovery services where available. Search for a preprint or accepted manuscript if the final publisher version is unavailable, noting its version and date. Check the landing page and actual access where possible; a listed repository record does not guarantee a downloadable full text.

For each candidate, report the link, host, version, and evidence of access or license. Distinguish openly readable from explicitly licensed for redistribution or reuse; follow the stated license and site terms rather than inferring permission from a working link. Do not bypass access controls or imply that a manuscript is the final typeset version. If the content matters to the user's claim, check the specific version and cite it accurately.

If no accessible copy is confirmed, suggest legitimate routes such as a library, interlibrary loan, or an author request, depending on the user's context. Do not send a request on the user's behalf without authorization.

## Deliverable and dependencies

Return verified links and their access status, with alternatives and unresolved checks. Site availability, institutional access, licensing, and version changes can affect results. A failed search is not proof that no legal copy exists; explicitly label searches or access tests that were not performed.