R Discovery, an AI-powered literature search and research reading platform, has changed how academics discover and read research. With a personalized reading experience and access to high-quality research in one place, R Discovery has become the most loved app in its space. Today, R Discovery’s more than 3 million users can add their institutional credentials to instantly access full-text papers from major academic publishers directly in the mobile app. Powered by an early integration with GetFTR, R Discovery empowers users to add their institutional details to their profiles and read more full-text articles, leading to 2x engagement on the platform.
Three years after integrating GetFTR and providing uninterrupted access to high-impact research for academics, we examine the success story that enabled R Discovery to benefit the global academic community and increase readership for its publisher partners.
The Challenge: Barriers to accessing full-text research articles published in top academic journals
Academics need to keep up with the latest research in order to stay current in their subject area, build their own research projects, and help advance knowledge in their field. Yet, when searching for research online, they often come across relevant articles only to find that they are behind paywalls. The inability to access articles published by the world’s leading publishers can be disappointing and frustrating, limiting the dissemination of important findings and putting a halt on scientific progress. While there has been a move to open access over the past few decades, some high-impact articles still require subscriptions before they can be accessed. This makes it very difficult for researchers with limited resources to stay updated with literature.
Moreover, many researchers are unaware that their institutes hold journal subscriptions that allow them to access the articles they wish to read. And even if they know about this, traditional library platforms are often clunky and difficult to use, restricted to university library computers (IP-based), or not linked to platforms where researchers are discovering content. Inadequate or improper use leads to a lower ROI on the subscriptions that the library pays for, leading to a loss-loss scenario for both the library and the researchers it serves.
The Solution: Partnering with GetFTR to enable institutional access to full-text research articles
Built by a team of experts with 21+ years of experience in academia, R Discovery quickly recognized this problem and worked to combine research discovery with full-text access. It was one of the first platforms to integrate GetFTR in January 2021, enabling real-time checks and access to full-text journal articles through institutional subscriptions. Researchers could access full-text articles when they needed and on the device of their choice, libraries saw good ROI for journal subscriptions, and publishers had better readership, creating a win-win-win scenario for everyone via R Discovery. Access to the most up-to-date version of full-text articles on R Discovery proved invaluable during the pandemic when researchers couldn’t physically visit their institute libraries, and this capability still continues to be one of the most loved and used features on R Discovery.
Today, R Discovery’s 3 million users can use this feature to read the best papers from over 250 million research articles, including more than 150 million peer-reviewed articles and over 40 million open access research papers. If they find a full-text paper behind paywalls, they can add their institute’s details to their profiles, allowing GetFTR to instantly check with publishers to confirm the institute has the relevant subscriptions. If the relevant subscriptions are in place, GetFTR gives researchers full access to published journal articles that are current, vetted, and relevant to their search specifications. This allows researchers to read full-text articles from anywhere in the world through R Discovery, with no need for additional software or updates.
The Impact: R Discovery gains 2x user engagement and 3x retention
The GetFTR integration had a significant positive impact for R Discovery users. Researchers who added their institution to their profiles derived exponentially higher value on R Discovery, resulting in 3.3x higher retention and 2x higher engagement rates than benchmarks across all registered users.
A quick look at the R Discovery usage patterns reveal that:
- With GetFTR’s real-time entitlement checks that enabled access to a wider, broader range of scholarly literature, users could discover the latest, most relevant research papers, save them in relevant reading lists, and obtain full texts for references as needed.
- R Discovery recorded a 20% jump in full-text views for those who added their institution to their profiles. This signifies a major enhancement in researchers’ ability to delve deeper into their chosen subjects, leading to more comprehensive and insightful research.
- The institutional workflow on R Discovery saw interest from researchers in both developed and emerging countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, India, Brazil, Mexico, and the Philippines.
- Researchers from leading universities used their institutional credentials to unlock access to full-text papers across major subject areas through R Discovery. Take a look at the top five institutes in North America, Asia, Europe, South America, and Africa where it was used.
- Several leading publishers saw higher readership as their articles were accessed and read by highly engaged users via R Discovery’s institutional workflow. Researchers read most articles from top publishers such as Elsevier, Wiley, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, and SAGE.
Redefining the research reading experience
With its commitment to enhancing the research experience and democratizing research reading, R Discovery has revolutionized the way researchers find, access, share, organize, and read or listen to scholarly content. As researchers continue to explore and innovate, GetFTR continues to be an indispensable partner, ensuring that the journey of research discovery remains both seamless and enriching. On the other hand, publishers have also benefitted through increased readership and impact via institutional access, which is critical when libraries look at the return on budget spent and plan for renewals. If you are interested in having your journal content featured on R Discovery, write to us at discovery@researcher.life and we will be happy to make this happen. If you are an academic and still haven’t tried R Discovery, this is your chance to take your literature search and reading to the next level. Get the free app or explore on web now – click here to get started with R Discovery!
R Discovery is a literature search and research reading platform that accelerates your research discovery journey by keeping you updated on the latest, most relevant scholarly content. With 250M+ research articles sourced from trusted aggregators like CrossRef, Unpaywall, PubMed, PubMed Central, Open Alex and top publishing houses like Springer Nature, JAMA, IOP, Taylor & Francis, NEJM, BMJ, Karger, SAGE, Emerald Publishing and more, R Discovery puts a world of research at your fingertips.
Try R Discovery Prime FREE for 1 week or upgrade at just US$72 a year to access premium features that let you listen to research on the go, read in your language, collaborate with peers, auto sync with reference managers, and much more. Choose a simpler, smarter way to find and read research – Download the app and start your free 7-day trial today!
