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The SpringerOpen portfolio has grown tremendously since its launch in 2010, so that we now offer researchers from all areas of science, technology, medicine, the humanities and social sciences a place to publish open access in journals. Publishing with SpringerOpen makes your work freely available online for everyone, immediately upon publication, and our high-level peer-review and production processes guarantee the quality and reliability of the work. Open access books are published by our Springer imprint.

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Early Journal Content , articles published prior to the last 95 years in the United States, or prior to the last 143 years if initially published internationally, are freely available to all

Even more content is available when you register to read – millions of articles from nearly 2,000 journals

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JSTOR Daily is an online publication that contextualizes current events with scholarship. All of our stories contain links to publicly accessible research on JSTOR. We’re proud to publish articles based in fact and grounded by careful research and to provide free access to that research for all of our readers.

Free, fast and fair: the global primary research record where researchers publish their work in full detail

Octopus is a new publishing platform for scholarly research. Funded by UKRI – the UK government research funder.

Here researchers can publish all their work for free, in full detail, enabling peer review and quality assessment, gaining credit for what they have done, and allowing the research community to build upon it.

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Researchers at the University of Bristol have recently conducted an investigation into the current state of the research culture. They found academic researchers demoralised by a culture that disincentivises sharing and collaboration, encourages questionable research practices, and increases the risk of bias. These findings underline the need for a platform such as Octopus. Their results are detailed in the report "A snapshot of the academic research culture in 2023 and how it might be improved".

Recording your work on Octopus is different from publishing a paper. There are eight publication types that are aligned with the research process and designed to help researchers of all types share their work and be recognised for it.

Anyone can read anything in Octopus – it's designed to make primary research openly available to all.

Every publication in Octopus is linked to another, forming branching chains of research. You can navigate these chains from every publication page to browse areas of research and discover something new.

Before you can publish research work, you need to create an account via ORCID®. ORCID is a system of unique, persistent digital identifiers developed specifically for researchers.

Octopus is designed to incentivise best practice in research, utilise the opportunities of open access, and to improve the research culture.

Review our FAQs to find out more about how the platform works.

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ScienceOpen offers content hosting, context building and marketing services for publishers. See our tailored offerings

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ScienceOpen offers state-of-the-art technology and a range of solutions and services

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Make an impact and build your research profile in the open with ScienceOpen

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Create a Journal powered by ScienceOpen

Launching a new open access journal or an open access press? ScienceOpen now provides full end-to-end open access publishing solutions – embedded within our smart interactive discovery environment. A modular approach allows open access publishers to pick and choose among a range of services and design the platform that fits their goals and budget.

Continue reading “Create a Journal powered by ScienceOpen”   

What can a Researcher do on ScienceOpen?

ScienceOpen provides researchers with a wide range of tools to support their research – all for free. Here is a short checklist to make sure you are getting the most of the technological infrastructure and content that we have to offer. What can a researcher do on ScienceOpen? Continue reading “What can a Researcher do on ScienceOpen?”   

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• 16-17 May – ScienceOpen at 3rd AEUP Conference.
• 20 – 21 April – ScienceOpen attending Scaling Small: Community-Owned Futures for Open Access Books .

What is ScienceOpen?

• Smart search and discovery within an interactive interface
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• Business model based on providing services to publishers

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When you choose to publish with PLOS, your research makes an impact. Make your work accessible to all, without restrictions, and accelerate scientific discovery with options like preprints and published peer review that make your work more Open.

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Breaking boundaries. Empowering researchers. Opening Science.

PLOS is a nonprofit, Open Access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication.

Every country. Every career stage. Every area of science. Hundreds of thousands of researchers choose PLOS to share and discuss their work. Together, we collaborate to make science, and the process of publishing science, fair, equitable, and accessible for the whole community.

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RECENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Written by Lindsay Morton Over 4 years: 74k+ eligible articles. Nearly 85k signed reviews. More than 30k published peer review history…

The latest quarterly update to the Open Science Indicators (OSIs) dataset was released in December, marking the one year anniversary of OSIs…

PLOS JOURNALS

PLOS publishes a suite of influential Open Access journals across all areas of science and medicine. Rigorously reported, peer reviewed and immediately available without restrictions, promoting the widest readership and impact possible. We encourage you to consider the scope of each journal before submission, as journals are editorially independent and specialized in their publication criteria and breadth of content. 

PLOS Biology PLOS Climate PLOS Computational Biology PLOS Digital Health PLOS Genetics PLOS Global Public Health PLOS Medicine PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases PLOS ONE PLOS Pathogens PLOS Sustainability and Transformation PLOS Water

Now open for submissions:

PLOS Complex Systems PLOS Mental Health

ADVANCING OPEN SCIENCE

Open opportunities for your community to see, cite, share, and build on your research. PLOS gives you more control over how and when your work becomes available.

Ready, set, share your preprint. Authors of most PLOS journals can now opt-in at submission to have PLOS post their manuscript as a preprint to bioRxiv or medRxiv.

All PLOS journals offer authors the opportunity to increase the transparency of the evaluation process by publishing their peer review history.

We have everything you need to amplify your reviews, increase the visibility of your work through PLOS, and join the movement to advance Open Science.

FEATURED RESOURCES

Ready to submit your manuscript to PLOS? Find everything you need to choose the journal that’s right for you as well as information about publication fees, metrics, and other FAQs here.

We have everything you need to write your first review, increase the visibility of your work through PLOS, and join the movement to advance Open Science.

Transform your research with PLOS.   Submit your manuscript

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Free Paper Publication

ISRDO does not charge any article submission or processing fees.

ISRDO is the world's leading open-access, peer-reviewed publication platform, with highly qualified reviewers.

Duration from Manuscripts Submission to First Editorial Decision - 5 to 8 Days

Duration from First Editorial Decision to Manuscripts Acceptance - 10 to 14 Days

Duration from Manuscripts Acceptance To Publication  - 1 to 5 Days

Cover 200+ Subjects

in the field of Agriculture, Veterinary Science,  Arts, Humanities, Social Science, Biology, Life Science, Business, Management, Accounting, Science, Engineering, Technology, Environment, Earth, Physical Science, Medicine and Pharmacology

AI assisted Peer Review Process

Reduce time to publication with ISRDO Evaluate, we are given insight and evaluate of incoming manuscript submissions, assisted by AI and Natural language processing. This Evaluate is integrated directly into your manuscript evaluation workflow.  Click Here

Find a Subject:

What we offer.

• Publication of high-impact research from top academics and institutions around the world.
• Publishing to ISRDO ensures the widest access and impact for your work.
• All the benefits of traditional peer review - detailed, thoughtful and constructive improvement in your work.
• 7 to 10 days before the first decision (for all subjects).
• Publish quickly without compromising the quality of reviews.
• ISRDO offers a multitude of tools and services to help you better publish your work

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21 Legit Research Databases for Free Journal Articles in 2024

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Written by  Scribendi

Has this ever happened to you? While looking for websites for research, you come across a research paper site that claims to connect academics to a peer-reviewed article database for free.

Intrigued, you search for keywords related to your topic, only to discover that you must pay a hefty subscription fee to access the service. After the umpteenth time being duped, you begin to wonder if there's even such a thing as free journal articles.

Subscription fees and paywalls are often the bane of students and academics, especially those at small institutions who don't provide access to many free article directories and repositories.

Whether you're working on an undergraduate paper, a PhD dissertation, or a medical research study, we want to help you find tools to locate and access the information you need to produce well-researched, compelling, and innovative work.

Below, we discuss why peer-reviewed articles are superior and list out the best free article databases to use in 2024.

Download Our Free Research Database Roundup PDF

Why peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles are more authoritative.

Determining what sources are reliable can be challenging. Peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles are the gold standard in academic research. Reputable academic journals have a rigorous peer-review process.

The peer review process provides accountability to the academic community, as well as to the content of the article. The peer review process involves qualified experts in a specific (often very specific) field performing a review of an article's methods and findings to determine things like quality and credibility.

Peer-reviewed articles can be found in peer-reviewed article databases and research databases, and if you know that a database of journals is reliable, that can offer reassurances about the reliability of a free article. Peer review is often double blind, meaning that the author removes all identifying information and, likewise, does not know the identity of the reviewers. This helps reviewers maintain objectivity and impartiality so as to judge an article based on its merit.

Where to Find Peer-Reviewed Articles

Peer-reviewed articles can be found in a variety of research databases. Below is a list of some of the major databases you can use to find peer-reviewed articles and other sources in disciplines spanning the humanities, sciences, and social sciences.

What Are Open Access Journals?

An open access (OA) journal is a journal whose content can be accessed without payment. This provides scholars, students, and researchers with free journal articles. OA journals use alternate methods of funding to cover publication costs so that articles can be published without having to pass those publication costs on to the reader.

Some of these funding models include standard funding methods like advertising, public funding, and author payment models, where the author pays a fee in order to publish in the journal. There are OA journals that have non-peer-reviewed academic content, as well as journals that focus on dissertations, theses, and papers from conferences, but the main focus of OA is peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles.

The internet has certainly made it easier to access research articles and other scholarly publications without needing access to a university library, and OA takes another step in that direction by removing financial barriers to academic content.

Choosing Wisely

Features of legitimate oa journals.

 There are things to look out for when trying to decide if a free publication journal is legitimate:

Mission statement —The mission statement for an OA journal should be available on their website.

Publication history —Is the journal well established? How long has it been available?

Editorial board —Who are the members of the editorial board, and what are their credentials?

Indexing —Can the journal be found in a reliable database?

Peer review —What is the peer review process? Does the journal allow enough time in the process for a reliable assessment of quality?

Impact factor —What is the average number of times the journal is cited over a two-year period?

Features of Illegitimate OA Journals

There are predatory publications that take advantage of the OA format, and they are something to be wary of. Here are some things to look out for:

Contact information —Is contact information provided? Can it be verified?

Turnaround —If the journal makes dubious claims about the amount of time from submission to publication, it is likely unreliable.

Editorial board —Much like determining legitimacy, looking at the editorial board and their credentials can help determine illegitimacy.

Indexing —Can the journal be found in any scholarly databases?

Peer review —Is there a statement about the peer review process? Does it fit what you know about peer review?

How to Find Scholarly Articles

Identify keywords.

Keywords are included in an article by the author. Keywords are an excellent way to find content relevant to your research topic or area of interest. In academic searches, much like you would on a search engine, you can use keywords to navigate through what is available to find exactly what you're looking for.

Authors provide keywords that will help you easily find their article when researching a related topic, often including general terms to accommodate broader searches, as well as some more specific terms for those with a narrower scope. Keywords can be used individually or in combination to refine your scholarly article search.

Narrow Down Results

Sometimes, search results can be overwhelming, and searching for free articles on a journal database is no exception, but there are multiple ways to narrow down your results. A good place to start is discipline.

What category does your topic fall into (psychology, architecture, machine learning, etc.)? You can also narrow down your search with a year range if you're looking for articles that are more recent.

A Boolean search can be incredibly helpful. This entails including terms like AND between two keywords in your search if you need both keywords to be in your results (or, if you are looking to exclude certain keywords, to exclude these words from the results).

Consider Different Avenues

If you're not having luck using keywords in your search for free articles, you may still be able to find what you're looking for by changing your tactics. Casting a wider net sometimes yields positive results, so it may be helpful to try searching by subject if keywords aren't getting you anywhere.

You can search for a specific publisher to see if they have OA publications in the academic journal database. And, if you know more precisely what you're looking for, you can search for the title of the article or the author's name.

Determining the Credibility of Scholarly Sources

Ensuring that sources are both credible and reliable is crucial to academic research. Use these strategies to help evaluate the usefulness of scholarly sources:

• Peer Review : Look for articles that have undergone a rigorous peer-review process. Peer-reviewed articles are typically vetted by experts in the field, ensuring the accuracy of the research findings.

Tip: To determine whether an article has undergone rigorous peer review, review the journal's editorial policies, which are often available on the journal's website. Look for information about the peer-review process, including the criteria for selecting reviewers, the process for handling conflicts of interest, and any transparency measures in place.

• Publisher Reputation : Consider the reputation of the publisher. Established publishers, such as well-known academic journals, are more likely to adhere to high editorial standards and publishing ethics.
• Author Credentials : Evaluate the credentials and expertise of the authors. Check their affiliations, academic credentials, and past publications to assess their authority in the field.
• Citations and References : Examine the citations and references provided in the article. A well-researched article will cite credible sources to support its arguments and findings. Verify the accuracy of the cited sources and ensure they are from reputable sources.
• Publication Date : Consider the publication date of the article. While older articles may still be relevant, particularly in certain fields, it is best to prioritize recent publications for up-to-date research and findings.
• Journal Impact Factor : Assess the journal's impact factor or other metrics that indicate its influence and reputation within the academic community. Higher impact factor journals are generally considered more prestigious and reliable. 

Tip: Journal Citation Reports (JCR), produced by Clarivate Analytics, is a widely used source for impact factor data. You can access JCR through academic libraries or directly from the Clarivate Analytics website if you have a subscription.

• Peer Recommendations : Seek recommendations from peers, mentors, or professors in your field. They can provide valuable insights and guidance on reputable sources and journals within your area of study.
• Cross-Verification : Cross-verify the information presented in the article with other credible sources. Compare findings, methodologies, and conclusions with similar studies to ensure consistency and reliability.

By employing these strategies, researchers can confidently evaluate the credibility and reliability of scholarly sources, ensuring the integrity of their research contributions in an ever-evolving landscape.

The Top 21 Free Online Journal and Research Databases

Navigating OA journals, research article databases, and academic websites trying to find high-quality sources for your research can really make your head spin. What constitutes a reliable database? What is a useful resource for your discipline and research topic? How can you find and access full-text, peer-reviewed articles?

Fortunately, we're here to help. Having covered some of the ins and outs of peer review, OA journals, and how to search for articles, we have compiled a list of the top 21 free online journals and the best research databases. This list of databases is a great resource to help you navigate the wide world of academic research.

These databases provide a variety of free sources, from abstracts and citations to full-text, peer-reviewed OA journals. With databases covering specific areas of research and interdisciplinary databases that provide a variety of material, these are some of our favorite free databases, and they're totally legit!

CORE is a multidisciplinary aggregator of OA research. CORE has the largest collection of OA articles available. It allows users to search more than 219 million OA articles. While most of these link to the full-text article on the original publisher's site, or to a PDF available for download, five million records are hosted directly on CORE.

CORE's mission statement is a simple and straightforward commitment to offering OA articles to anyone, anywhere in the world. They also host communities that are available for researchers to join and an ambassador community to enhance their services globally. In addition to a straightforward keyword search, CORE offers advanced search options to filter results by publication type, year, language, journal, repository, and author.

CORE's user interface is easy to use and navigate. Search results can be sorted based on relevance or recency, and you can search for relevant content directly from the results screen.

Collection : 219,537,133 OA articles

Other Services : Additional services are available from CORE, with extras that are geared toward researchers, repositories, and businesses. There are tools for accessing raw data, including an API that provides direct access to data, datasets that are available for download, and FastSync for syncing data content from the CORE database.

CORE has a recommender plug-in that suggests relevant OA content in the database while conducting a search and a discovery feature that helps you discover OA versions of paywalled articles. Other features include tools for managing content, such as a dashboard for managing repository output and the Repository Edition service to enhance discoverability.

Good Source of Peer-Reviewed Articles : Yes

Advanced Search Options : Language, author, journal, publisher, repository, DOI, year

2. ScienceOpen

Functioning as a research and publishing network, ScienceOpen offers OA to more than 74 million articles in all areas of science. Although you do need to register to view the full text of articles, registration is free. The advanced search function is highly detailed, allowing you to find exactly the research you're looking for.

The Berlin- and Boston-based company was founded in 2013 to "facilitate open and public communications between academics and to allow ideas to be judged on their merit, regardless of where they come from." Search results can be exported for easy integration with reference management systems.

You can also bookmark articles for later research. There are extensive networking options, including your Science Open profile, a forum for interacting with other researchers, the ability to track your usage and citations, and an interactive bibliography. Users have the ability to review articles and provide their knowledge and insight within the community.

Collection : 74,560,631

Other Services : None

Advanced Search Options :   Content type, source, author, journal, discipline

3. Directory of Open Access Journals

A multidisciplinary, community-curated directory, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) gives researchers access to high-quality peer-reviewed journals. It has archived more than two million articles from 17,193 journals, allowing you to either browse by subject or search by keyword.

The site was launched in 2003 with the aim of increasing the visibility of OA scholarly journals online. Content on the site covers subjects from science, to law, to fine arts, and everything in between. DOAJ has a commitment to "increase the visibility, accessibility, reputation, usage and impact of quality, peer-reviewed, OA scholarly research journals globally, regardless of discipline, geography or language."

Information about the journal is available with each search result. Abstracts are also available in a collapsible format directly from the search screen. The scholarly article website is somewhat simple, but it is easy to navigate. There are 16 principles of transparency and best practices in scholarly publishing that clearly outline DOAJ policies and standards.

Collection : 6,817,242

Advanced Search Options :   Subject, journal, year

4. Education Resources Information Center

The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) of the Institution of Education Sciences allows you to search by topic for material related to the field of education. Links lead to other sites, where you may have to purchase the information, but you can search for full-text articles only. You can also search only peer-reviewed sources.

The service primarily indexes journals, gray literature (such as technical reports, white papers, and government documents), and books. All sources of material on ERIC go through a formal review process prior to being indexed. ERIC's selection policy is available as a PDF on their website.

The ERIC website has an extensive FAQ section to address user questions. This includes categories like general questions, peer review, and ERIC content. There are also tips for advanced searches, as well as general guidance on the best way to search the database. ERIC is an excellent database for content specific to education.

Collection : 1,292,897

Advanced Search Options : Boolean

5. arXiv e-Print Archive

The arXiv e-Print Archive is run by Cornell University Library and curated by volunteer moderators, and it now offers OA to more than one million e-prints.

There are advisory committees for all eight subjects available on the database. With a stated commitment to an "emphasis on openness, collaboration, and scholarship," the arXiv e-Print Archive is an excellent STEM resource.

The interface is not as user-friendly as some of the other databases available, and the website hosts a blog to provide news and updates, but it is otherwise a straightforward math and science resource. There are simple and advanced search options, and, in addition to conducting searches for specific topics and articles, users can browse content by subject. The arXiv e-Print Archive clearly states that they do not peer review the e-prints in the database.

Collection : 1,983,891

Good Source of Peer-Reviewed Articles : No

Advanced Search Options :   Subject, date, title, author, abstract, DOI

6. Social Science Research Network

The Social Science Research Network (SSRN) is a collection of papers from the social sciences community. It is a highly interdisciplinary platform used to search for scholarly articles related to 67 social science topics. SSRN has a variety of research networks for the various topics available through the free scholarly database.

The site offers more than 700,000 abstracts and more than 600,000 full-text papers. There is not yet a specific option to search for only full-text articles, but, because most of the papers on the site are free access, it's not often that you encounter a paywall. There is currently no option to search for only peer-reviewed articles.

You must become a member to use the services, but registration is free and enables you to interact with other scholars around the world. SSRN is "passionately committed to increasing inclusion, diversity and equity in scholarly research," and they encourage and discuss the use of inclusive language in scholarship whenever possible.

Collection : 1,058,739 abstracts; 915,452 articles

Advanced Search Options : Term, author, date, network

7. Public Library of Science

Public Library of Science (PLOS) is a big player in the world of OA science. Publishing 12 OA journals, the nonprofit organization is committed to facilitating openness in academic research. According to the site, "all PLOS content is at the highest possible level of OA, meaning that scientific articles are immediately and freely available to anyone, anywhere."

PLOS outlines four fundamental goals that guide the organization: break boundaries, empower researchers, redefine quality, and open science. All PLOS journals are peer-reviewed, and all 12 journals uphold rigorous ethical standards for research, publication, and scientific reporting.

PLOS does not offer advanced search options. Content is organized by topic into research communities that users can browse through, in addition to options to search for both articles and journals. The PLOS website also has resources for peer reviewers, including guidance on becoming a reviewer and on how to best participate in the peer review process.

Collection : 12 journals

Advanced Search Options : None

8. OpenDOAR

OpenDOAR, or the Directory of Open Access Repositories, is a comprehensive resource for finding free OA journals and articles. Using Google Custom Search, OpenDOAR combs through OA repositories around the world and returns relevant research in all disciplines.

The repositories it searches through are assessed and categorized by OpenDOAR staff to ensure they meet quality standards. Inclusion criteria for the database include requirements for OA content, global access, and categorically appropriate content, in addition to various other quality assurance measures. OpenDOAR has metadata, data, content, preservation, and submission policies for repositories, in addition to two OA policy statements regarding minimum and optimum recommendations.

This database allows users to browse and search repositories, which can then be selected, and articles and data can be accessed from the repository directly. As a repository database, much of the content on the site is geared toward the support of repositories and OA standards.

Collection : 5,768 repositories

Other Services : OpenDOAR offers a variety of additional services. Given the nature of the platform, services are primarily aimed at repositories and institutions, and there is a marked focus on OA in general. Sherpa services are OA archiving tools for authors and institutions.

They also offer various resources for OA support and compliance regarding standards and policies. The publication router matches publications and publishers with appropriate repositories.

There are also services and resources from JISC for repositories for cost management, discoverability, research impact, and interoperability, including ORCID consortium membership information. Additionally, a repository self-assessment tool is available for members.

Advanced Search Options :   Name, organization name, repository type, software name, content type, subject, country, region

9. Bielefeld Academic Search Engine

The Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) is operated by the Bielefeld University Library in Germany, and it offers more than 240 million documents from more than 8,000 sources. Sixty percent of its content is OA, and you can filter your search accordingly.

BASE has rigorous inclusion requirements for content providers regarding quality and relevance, and they maintain a list of content providers for the sake of transparency, which can be easily found on their website. BASE has a fairly elegant interface. Search results can be organized by author, title, or date.

From the search results, items can be selected and exported, added to favorites, emailed, and searched in Google Scholar. There are basic and advanced search features, with the advanced search offering numerous options for refining search criteria. There is also a feature on the website that saves recent searches without additional steps from the user.

Collection : 276,019,066 documents; 9,286 content providers

Advanced Search Options :   Author, subject, year, content provider, language, document type, access, terms of reuse

10. Digital Library of the Commons Repository

Run by Indiana University, the Digital Library of the Commons (DLC) Repository is a multidisciplinary journal repository that allows users to access thousands of free and OA articles from around the world. You can browse by document type, date, author, title, and more or search for keywords relevant to your topic.

DCL also offers the Comprehensive Bibliography of the Commons, an image database, and a keyword thesaurus for enhanced search parameters. The repository includes books, book chapters, conference papers, journal articles, surveys, theses and dissertations, and working papers. DCL advanced search features drop-down menus of search types with built-in Boolean search options.

Searches can be sorted by relevance, title, date, or submission date in ascending or descending order. Abstracts are included in selected search results, with access to full texts available, and citations can be exported from the same page. Additionally, the image database search includes tips for better search results.

Collection : 10,784

Advanced Search Options :   Author, date, title, subject, sector, region, conference

11. CIA World Factbook

The CIA World Factbook is a little different from the other resources on this list in that it is not an online journal directory or repository. It is, however, a useful free online research database for academics in a variety of disciplines.

All the information is free to access, and it provides facts about every country in the world, which are organized by category and include information about history, geography, transportation, and much more. The World Factbook can be searched by country or region, and there is also information about the world's oceans.

This site contains resources related to the CIA as an organization rather than being a scientific journal database specifically. The site has a user interface that is easy to navigate. The site also provides a section for updates regarding changes to what information is available and how it is organized, making it easier to interact with the information you are searching for.

Collection : 266 countries

12. Paperity

Paperity boasts its status as the "first multidisciplinary aggregator of OA journals and papers." Their focus is on helping you avoid paywalls while connecting you to authoritative research. In addition to providing readers with easy access to thousands of journals, Paperity seeks to help authors reach their audiences and help journals increase their exposure to boost readership.

Paperity has journal articles for every discipline, and the database offers more than a dozen advanced search options, including the length of the paper and the number of authors. There is even an option to include, exclude, or exclusively search gray papers.

Paperity is available for mobile, with both a mobile site and the Paperity Reader, an app that is available for both Android and Apple users. The database is also available on social media. You can interact with Paperity via Twitter and Facebook, and links to their social media are available on their homepage, including their Twitter feed.

Collection : 8,837,396

Advanced Search Options : Title, abstract, journal title, journal ISSN, publisher, year of publication, number of characters, number of authors, DOI, author, affiliation, language, country, region, continent, gray papers

13. dblp Computer Science Bibliography

The dblp Computer Science Bibliography is an online index of major computer science publications. dblp was founded in 1993, though until 2010 it was a university-specific database at the University of Trier in Germany. It is currently maintained by the Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz Center for Informatics.

Although it provides access to both OA articles and those behind a paywall, you can limit your search to only OA articles. The site indexes more than three million publications, making it an invaluable resource in the world of computer science. dblp entries are color-coded based on the type of item.

dblp has an extensive FAQ section, so questions that might arise about topics like the database itself, navigating the website, or the data on dblp, in addition to several other topics, are likely to be answered. The website also hosts a blog and has a section devoted to website statistics.

Collection : 5,884,702

14. EconBiz

EconBiz is a great resource for economic and business studies. A service of the Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, it offers access to full texts online, with the option of searching for OA material only. Their literature search is performed across multiple international databases.

EconBiz has an incredibly useful research skills section, with resources such as Guided Walk, a service to help students and researchers navigate searches, evaluate sources, and correctly cite references; the Research Guide EconDesk, a help desk to answer specific questions and provide advice to aid in literature searches; and the Academic Career Kit for what they refer to as Early Career Researchers.

Other helpful resources include personal literature lists, a calendar of events for relevant calls for papers, conferences, and workshops, and an economics terminology thesaurus to help in finding keywords for searches. To stay up-to-date with EconBiz, you can sign up for their newsletter.

Collection : 1,075,219

Advanced Search Options :   Title, subject, author, institution, ISBN/ISSN, journal, publisher, language, OA only

15. BioMed Central

BioMed Central provides OA research from more than 300 peer-reviewed journals. While originally focused on resources related to the physical sciences, math, and engineering, BioMed Central has branched out to include journals that cover a broader range of disciplines, with the aim of providing a single platform that provides OA articles for a variety of research needs. You can browse these journals by subject or title, or you can search all articles for your required keyword.

BioMed Central has a commitment to peer-reviewed sources and to the peer review process itself, continually seeking to help and improve the peer review process. They're "committed to maintaining high standards through full and stringent peer review."

Additionally, the website includes resources to assist and support editors as part of their commitment to providing high-quality, peer-reviewed OA articles.

Collection : 507,212

Other Services : BMC administers the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) registry. While initially designed for registering clinical trials, since its creation in 2000, the registry has broadened its scope to include other health studies as well.

The registry is recognized by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, as well as the World Health Organization (WHO), and it meets the requirements established by the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform.

The study records included in the registry are all searchable and free to access. The ISRCTN registry "supports transparency in clinical research, helps reduce selective reporting of results and ensures an unbiased and complete evidence base."

Advanced Search Options :   Author, title, journal, list

A multidisciplinary search engine, JURN provides links to various scholarly websites, articles, and journals that are free to access or OA. Covering the fields of the arts, humanities, business, law, nature, science, and medicine, JURN has indexed almost 5,000 repositories to help you find exactly what you're looking for.

Search features are enhanced by Google, but searches are filtered through their index of repositories. JURN seeks to reach a wide audience, with their search engine tailored to researchers from "university lecturers and students seeking a strong search tool for OA content" and "advanced and ambitious students, age 14-18" to "amateur historians and biographers" and "unemployed and retired lecturers."

That being said, JURN is very upfront about its limitations. They admit to not being a good resource for educational studies, social studies, or psychology, and conference archives are generally not included due to frequently unstable URLs.

Collection : 5,064 indexed journals

Other Services : JURN has a browser add-on called UserScript. This add-on allows users to integrate the JURN database directly into Google Search. When performing a search through Google, the add-on creates a link that sends the search directly to JURN CSE. JURN CSE is a search service that is hosted by Google.

Clicking the link from the Google Search bar will run your search through the JURN database from the Google homepage. There is also an interface for a DuckDuckGo search box; while this search engine has an emphasis on user privacy, for smaller sites that may be indexed by JURN, DuckDuckGo may not provide the same depth of results.

Advanced Search Options :   Google search modifiers

Dryad is a digital repository of curated, OA scientific research data. Launched in 2009, it is run by a not-for-profit membership organization, with a community of institutional and publisher members for whom their services have been designed. Members include institutions such as Stanford, UCLA, and Yale, as well as publishers like Oxford University Press and Wiley.

Dryad aims to "promote a world where research data is openly available, integrated with the scholarly literature, and routinely reused to create knowledge." It is free to access for the search and discovery of data. Their user experience is geared toward easy self-depositing, supports Creative Commons licensing, and provides DOIs for all their content.

Note that there is a publishing charge associated if you wish to publish your data in Dryad.  When searching datasets, they are accompanied by author information and abstracts for the associated studies, and citation information is provided for easy attribution.

Collection : 44,458

Advanced Search Options : No

Run by the British Library, the E-Theses Online Service (EThOS) allows you to search over 500,000 doctoral theses in a variety of disciplines. All of the doctoral theses available on EThOS have been awarded by higher education institutions in the United Kingdom.

Although some full texts are behind paywalls, you can limit your search to items available for immediate download, either directly through EThOS or through an institution's website. More than half of the records in the database provide access to full-text theses.

EThOS notes that they do not hold all records for all institutions, but they strive to index as many doctoral theses as possible, and the database is constantly expanding, with approximately 3,000 new records added and 2,000 new full-text theses available every month. The availability of full-text theses is dependent on multiple factors, including their availability in the institutional repository and the level of repository development.

Collection : 500,000+

Advanced Search Options : Abstract, author's first name, author's last name, awarding body, current institution, EThOS ID, year, language, qualifications, research supervisor, sponsor/funder, keyword, title

PubMed is a research platform well-known in the fields of science and medicine. It was created and developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine (NLM). It has been available since 1996 and offers access to "more than 33 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books."

While PubMed does not provide full-text articles directly, and many full-text articles may be behind paywalls or require subscriptions to access them, when articles are available from free sources, such as through PubMed Central (PMC), those links are provided with the citations and abstracts that PubMed does provide.

PMC, which was established in 2000 by the NLM, is a free full-text archive that includes more than 6,000,000 records. PubMed records link directly to corresponding PMC results. PMC content is provided by publishers and other content owners, digitization projects, and authors directly.

Collection : 33,000,000+

Advanced Search Options : Author's first name, author's last name, identifier, corporation, date completed, date created, date entered, date modified, date published, MeSH, book, conflict of interest statement, EC/RN number, editor, filter, grant number, page number, pharmacological action, volume, publication type, publisher, secondary source ID, text, title, abstract, transliterated title

20. Semantic Scholar

A unique and easy-to-use resource, Semantic Scholar defines itself not just as a research database but also as a "search and discovery tool." Semantic Scholar harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to efficiently sort through millions of science-related papers based on your search terms.

Through this singular application of machine learning, Semantic Scholar expands search results to include topic overviews based on your search terms, with the option to create an alert for or further explore the topic. It also provides links to related topics.

In addition, search results produce "TLDR" summaries in order to provide concise overviews of articles and enhance your research by helping you to navigate quickly and easily through the available literature to find the most relevant information. According to the site, although some articles are behind paywalls, "the data [they] have for those articles is limited," so you can expect to receive mostly full-text results.

Collection : 203,379,033

Other Services : Semantic Scholar supports multiple popular browsers. Content can be accessed through both mobile and desktop versions of Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, and Opera.

Additionally, Semantic Scholar provides browser extensions for both Chrome and Firefox, so AI-powered scholarly search results are never more than a click away. The mobile interface includes an option for Semantic Swipe, a new way of interacting with your research results.

There are also beta features that can be accessed as part of the Beta Program, which will provide you with features that are being actively developed and require user feedback for further improvement.

Advanced Search Options : Field of study, date range, publication type, author, journal, conference, PDF

Zenodo, powered by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), was launched in 2013. Taking its name from Zenodotus, the first librarian of the ancient library of Alexandria, Zenodo is a tool "built and developed by researchers, to ensure that everyone can join in open science." Zenodo accepts all research from every discipline in any file format.

However, Zenodo also curates uploads and promotes peer-reviewed material that is available through OA. A DOI is assigned to everything that is uploaded to Zenodo, making research easily findable and citable. You can sort by keyword, title, journal, and more and download OA documents directly from the site.

While there are closed access and restricted access items in the database, the vast majority of research is OA material. Search results can be filtered by access type, making it easy to view the free articles available in the database.

Collection : 2,220,000+

Advanced Search Options : Access, file type, keywords

Check out our roundup of free research databases as a handy one-page PDF.

How to find peer-reviewed articles.

There are a lot of free scholarly articles available from various sources. The internet is a big place. So how do you go about finding peer-reviewed articles when conducting your research? It's important to make sure you are using reputable sources.

The first source of the article is the person or people who wrote it. Checking out the author can give you some initial insight into how much you can trust what you’re reading. Looking into the publication information of your sources can also indicate whether the article is reliable.

Aspects of the article, such as subject and audience, tone, and format, are other things you can look at when evaluating whether the article you're using is valid, reputable, peer-reviewed material. So, let's break that down into various components so you can assess your research to ensure that you're using quality articles and conducting solid research.

Check the Author

Peer-reviewed articles are written by experts or scholars with experience in the field or discipline they're writing about. The research in a peer-reviewed article has to pass a rigorous evaluation process, so it's a foregone conclusion that the author(s) of a peer-reviewed article should have experience or training related to that research.

When evaluating an article, take a look at the author's information. What credentials does the author have to indicate that their research has scholarly weight behind it? Finding out what type of degree the author has—and what that degree is in—can provide insight into what kind of authority the author is on the subject.

Something else that might lend credence to the author's scholarly role is their professional affiliation. A look at what organization or institution they are affiliated with can tell you a lot about their experience or expertise. Where were they trained, and who is verifying their research?

Identify Subject and Audience

The ultimate goal of a study is to answer a question. Scholarly articles are also written for scholarly audiences, especially articles that have gone through the peer review process. This means that the author is trying to reach experts, researchers, academics, and students in the field or topic the research is based on.

Think about the question the author is trying to answer by conducting this research, why, and for whom. What is the subject of the article? What question has it set out to answer? What is the purpose of finding the information? Is the purpose of the article of importance to other scholars? Is it original content?

Research should also be approached analytically. Is the methodology sound? Is the author using an analytical approach to evaluate the data that they have obtained? Are the conclusions they've reached substantiated by their data and analysis? Answering these questions can reveal a lot about the article's validity.

Format Matters

Reliable articles from peer-reviewed sources have certain format elements to be aware of. The first is an abstract. An abstract is a short summary or overview of the article. Does the article have an abstract? It's unlikely that you're reading a peer-reviewed article if it doesn't. Peer-reviewed journals will also have a word count range. If an article seems far too short or incredibly long, that may be reason to doubt it.

Another feature of reliable articles is the sections the information is divided into. Peer-reviewed research articles will have clear, concise sections that appropriately organize the information. This might include a literature review, methodology, results (in the case of research articles), and a conclusion.

One of the most important sections is the references or bibliography. This is where the researcher lists all the sources of their information. A peer-reviewed source will have a comprehensive reference section.

An article that has been written to reach an academic community will have an academic tone. The language that is used, and the way this language is used, is important to consider. If the article is riddled with grammatical errors, confusing syntax, and casual language, it almost definitely didn't make it through the peer review process.

Also consider the use of terminology. Every discipline is going to have standard terminology or jargon that can be used and understood by other academics in the discipline. The language in a peer-reviewed article is going to reflect that.

If the author is going out of their way to explain simple terms, or terms that are standard to the field or discipline, it's unlikely that the article has been peer reviewed, as this is something that the author would be asked to address during the review process.

Publication

The source of the article will be a very good indicator of the likelihood that it was peer reviewed. Where was the article published? Was it published alongside other academic articles in the same discipline? Is it a legitimate and reputable scholarly publication?

A trade publication or newspaper might be legitimate or reputable, but it is not a scholarly source, and it will not have been subject to the peer review process. Scholarly journals are the best resource for peer-reviewed articles, but it's important to remember that not all scholarly journals are peer reviewed.

It's helpful to look at a scholarly source's website, as peer-reviewed journals will have a clear indication of the peer review process. University libraries, institutional repositories, and reliable databases (and now you have a list of legit ones) can also help provide insight into whether an article comes from a peer-reviewed journal.

Common Research Mistakes to Avoid

Research is a lot of work. Even with high standards and good intentions, it's easy to make mistakes. Perhaps you searched for access to scientific journals for free and found the perfect peer-reviewed sources, but you forgot to document everything, and your references are a mess. Or, you only searched for free online articles and missed out on a ground-breaking study that was behind a paywall.

Whether your research is for a degree or to get published or to satisfy your own inquisitive nature, or all of the above, you want all that work to produce quality results. You want your research to be thorough and accurate.

To have any hope of contributing to the literature on your research topic, your results need to be high quality. You might not be able to avoid every potential mistake, but here are some that are both common and easy to avoid.

Sticking to One Source

One of the hallmarks of good research is a healthy reference section. Using a variety of sources gives you a better answer to your question. Even if all of the literature is in agreement, looking at various aspects of the topic may provide you with an entirely different picture than you would have if you looked at your research question from only one angle.

Not Documenting Every Fact

As you conduct your research, do yourself a favor and write everything down. Everything you include in your paper or article that you got from another source is going to need to be added to your references and cited.

It's important, especially if your aim is to conduct ethical, high-quality research, that all of your research has proper attribution. If you don't document as you go, you could end up making a lot of work for yourself if the information you don't write down is something that later, as you write your paper, you really need.

Using Outdated Materials

Academia is an ever-changing landscape. What was true in your academic discipline or area of research ten years ago may have since been disproven. If fifteen studies have come out since the article that you're using was published, it's more than a little likely that you're going to be basing your research on flawed or dated information.

If the information you're basing your research on isn't as up-to-date as possible, your research won't be of quality or able to stand up to any amount of scrutiny. You don't want all of your hard work to be for naught.

Relying Solely on Open Access Journals

OA is a great resource for conducting academic research. There are high-quality journal articles available through OA, and that can be very helpful for your research. But, just because you have access to free articles, that doesn't mean that there's nothing to be found behind a paywall.

Just as dismissing high-quality peer-reviewed articles because they are OA would be limiting, not exploring any paid content at all is equally short-sighted. If you're seeking to conduct thorough and comprehensive research, exploring all of your options for quality sources is going to be to your benefit.

Digging Too Deep or Not Deep Enough

Research is an art form, and it involves a delicate balance of information. If you conduct your research using only broad search terms, you won't be able to answer your research question well, or you'll find that your research provides information that is closely related to your topic but, ultimately, your findings are vague and unsubstantiated.

On the other hand, if you delve deeply into your research topic with specific searches and turn up too many sources, you might have a lot of information that is adjacent to your topic but without focus and perhaps not entirely relevant. It's important to answer your research question concisely but thoroughly.

Different Types of Scholarly Articles

Different types of scholarly articles have different purposes. An original research article, also called an empirical article, is the product of a study or an experiment. This type of article seeks to answer a question or fill a gap in the existing literature.

Research articles will have a methodology, results, and a discussion of the findings of the experiment or research and typically a conclusion.

Review articles overview the current literature and research and provide a summary of what the existing research indicates or has concluded. This type of study will have a section for the literature review, as well as a discussion of the findings of that review. Review articles will have a particularly extensive reference or bibliography section.

Theoretical articles draw on existing literature to create new theories or conclusions, or look at current theories from a different perspective, to contribute to the foundational knowledge of the field of study.

10 Tips for Navigating Journal Databases

Use the right academic journal database for your search, be that interdisciplinary or specific to your field. Or both!

If it's an option, set the search results to return only peer-reviewed sources.

Start by using search terms that are relevant to your topic without being overly specific.

Try synonyms, especially if your keywords aren't returning the desired results.

Even if you've found some good articles, try searching using different terms.

Explore the advanced search features of the database(s).

Learn to use Booleans (AND, OR, NOT) to expand or narrow your results.

Once you've gotten some good results from a more general search, try narrowing your search.

Read through abstracts when trying to find articles relevant to your research.

Keep track of your research and use citation tools. It'll make life easier when it comes time to compile your references.

7 Frequently Asked Questions

1. how do i get articles for free.

Free articles can be found through free online academic journals, OA databases, or other databases that include OA journals and articles. These resources allow you to access free papers online so you can conduct your research without getting stuck behind a paywall.

Academics don't receive payment for the articles they contribute to journals. There are often, in fact, publication fees that scholars pay in order to publish. This is one of the funding structures that allows OA journals to provide free content so that you don't have to pay fees or subscription costs to access journal articles.

2. How Do I Find Journal Articles?

Journal articles can be found in databases and institutional repositories that can be accessed at university libraries. However, online research databases that contain OA articles are the best resource for getting free access to journal articles that are available online.

Peer-reviewed journal articles are the best to use for academic research, and there are a number of databases where you can find peer-reviewed OA journal articles. Once you've found a useful article, you can look through the references for the articles the author used to conduct their research, and you can then search online databases for those articles, too.

3. How Do I Find Peer-Reviewed Articles?

Peer-reviewed articles can be found in reputable scholarly peer-reviewed journals. High-quality journals and journal articles can be found online using academic search engines and free research databases. These resources are excellent for finding OA articles, including peer-reviewed articles.

OA articles are articles that can be accessed for free. While some scholarly search engines and databases include articles that aren't peer reviewed, there are also some that provide only peer-reviewed articles, and databases that include non-peer-reviewed articles often have advanced search features that enable you to select "peer review only." The database will return results that are exclusively peer-reviewed content.

4. What Are Research Databases?

A research database is a list of journals, articles, datasets, and/or abstracts that allows you to easily search for scholarly and academic resources and conduct research online. There are databases that are interdisciplinary and cover a variety of topics.

For example, Paperity might be a great resource for a chemist as well as a linguist, and there are databases that are more specific to a certain field. So, while ERIC might be one of the best educational databases available for OA content, it's not going to be one of the best databases for finding research in the field of microbiology.

5. How Do I Find Scholarly Articles for Specific Fields?

There are interdisciplinary research databases that provide articles in a variety of fields, as well as research databases that provide articles that cater to specific disciplines. Additionally, a journal repository or index can be a helpful resource for finding articles in a specific field.

When searching an interdisciplinary database, there are frequently advanced search features that allow you to narrow the search results down so that they are specific to your field. Selecting "psychology" in the advanced search features will return psychology journal articles in your search results. You can also try databases that are specific to your field.

If you're searching for law journal articles, many law reviews are OA. If you don't know of any databases specific to history, visiting a journal repository or index and searching "history academic journals" can return a list of journals specific to history and provide you with a place to begin your research.

6. Are Peer-Reviewed Articles Really More Legitimate?

The short answer is yes, peer-reviewed articles are more legitimate resources for academic research. The peer review process provides legitimacy, as it is a rigorous review of the content of an article that is performed by scholars and academics who are experts in their field of study. The review provides an evaluation of the quality and credibility of the article.

Non-peer-reviewed articles are not subject to a review process and do not undergo the same level of scrutiny. This means that non-peer-reviewed articles are unlikely, or at least not as likely, to meet the same standards that peer-reviewed articles do.

7. Are Free Article Directories Legitimate?

Yes! As with anything, some databases are going to be better for certain requirements than others. But, a scholarly article database being free is not a reason in itself to question its legitimacy.

Free scholarly article databases can provide access to abstracts, scholarly article websites, journal repositories, and high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles. The internet has a lot of information, and it's often challenging to figure out what information is reliable. 

Research databases and article directories are great resources to help you conduct your research. Our list of the best research paper websites is sure to provide you with sources that are totally legit.

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Finding Open Access - Free Journals: Free Journal Article Databases

Free journal article databases.

• Citations and Bibliographies

Finding open access (free) journals

This LibGuide provides a list with active links to assist in finding open access (free) journals.

Options for finding reliable full text journal articles.

Other good sources for journals, newspapers, and more available for free on the Internet:

Google Scholar - A search engine for scholarly publications from peer-reviewed journals, professional societies, books, theses, and other sources.

Highwire Press - Offers free articles in biological, physical and social sciences and medicine. The site includes a search engine. Highwire has also put together a list of links to other large archives of scientific resources (highwire.stanford.edu/lists/largest.dtl)

Public Library of Science - A nonprofit scientific/medical organization making articles available for free.

BioMed Central - Publishes a number of journals that are available as open access, including Environmental Health and Journal of Biology. Others are available free to registered users.

OAIster - Indexes over three million digitized resources worldwide and can be limited to text, images, audio, or video files.

The Directory of Open Access Journals - Includes articles from more that 700 titles from around the world. Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics, Fishery Bulletin, Journal of Construction Education, and Biopolicy are just a few of the titles included.

Scitopia - A federated (“one-stop-shopping”) search portal for publications of a number of professional societies in the areas of science and technology. Over three million documents, including patents and government publications, can be found here.

Scientific Journals International - A Publisher of open-access journals in science, technology, health, education, and social sciences. Links to online issues are included.

Encyclopedia of Life - A collaborative initiative to collect information on every species on earth. Contributing organizations include Smithsonian Institution, Royal Botanic Garden, and American Museum of Natural History.

Internet Public Library - “Information you can trust” with subject indexes, newspapers, magazines, special collections, and more.

WorldCat - Sometimes called the catalog of catalogs, WorldCat lets you search through library holdings from thousands of libraries around the world. Search for everything from books, articles, CDs, DVDs, audio files, and more. This is a great resource for locating material that can be obtained through Interlibrary Loan if it is not available on the Internet.

WolframAlpha - A Wolfram Research resource, this "computational knowledge engine" can answer a wide variety of questions and provide information on various topics. Subjects covered include mathematics, statistics and data analysis, chemistry, engineering, and earth sciences among many more.

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• Last Updated: Jul 19, 2021 10:20 AM
• URL: https://libguides.esf.edu/freejournals

Discover the world's scientific knowledge

With 160+ million publication pages, 25+ million researchers and 1+ million questions, this is where everyone can access science.

You can use AND, OR, NOT, "" and () to specify your search.

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• Writing Tips

10 Free Research and Journal Databases

3-minute read

• 6th April 2019

Finding good research can be tough, especially when so much of it is locked behind paywalls . But there are free resources out there if you know where to look. So to help out, we’ve compiled a list of ten free academic search engines and databases that you should check out.

1. Google Scholar

Even if you’ve not used Google Scholar before, you’ll know Google. And, thus, you can probably guess that Google Scholar is a search engine dedicated to academic work. Not everything listed on Google Scholar will be freely available in full. But it is a good place to start if you’re looking for a specific paper, and many papers can be downloaded for free.

CORE is an open research aggregator. This means it works as a search engine for open access research published by organizations from around the world, all of which is available for free. It is also the world’s largest open access aggregator , so it is a very useful resource for researchers!

3. Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE)

Another dedicated academic search engine, BASE offers access to more than 140 million documents from more than 6,000 sources. Around 60% of these documents are open access, and you can filter results to see only research that is available for free online.

4. Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a database that lists around 12,000 open access journals covering all areas of science, technology, medicine, social science, and the humanities.

PubMed is a search engine maintained by the NCBI, part of the United States National Library of Medicine. It provides access to more than 29 million citations of biomedical research from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. The NCBI runs a similar search engine for research in the chemical sciences called PubChem , too, which is also free to use.

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6. E-Theses Online Service (EThOS)

Run by the British Library, EThOS is a database of over 500,000 doctoral theses. More than half of these are available for free, either directly via EThOS or via a link to a university website.

7. Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

SSRN is a database for research from the social sciences and humanities, including 846,589 research papers from 426,107 researchers across 30 disciplines. Most of these are available for free, although you may need to sign up as a member (also free) to access some services.

8. WorldWideScience

WorldWideScience is a global academic search engine, providing access to national and international scientific databases from across the globe. One interesting feature is that it offers automatic translation, so users can have search results translated into their preferred language.

9. Semantic Scholar

Semantic Scholar is an “intelligent” academic search engine. It uses machine learning to prioritize the most important research, which can make it easier to find relevant literature. Or, in Semantic Scholar’s own words, it uses influential citations, images, and key phrases to “cut through the clutter.”

10. Public Library of Science (PLOS)

PLOS is an open-access research organization that publishes several journals. But as well as publishing its own research, PLOS is a dedicated advocate for open-access learning. So if you appreciate the search engines and databases we’ve listed here, check out the rest of the PLOS site to find out more about their campaign to enable access to knowledge.

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• Proceedings Proposal
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Free Journals with Open Access Publication

The terms “free journals” and “open access” are being used frequently by the publishers but at some points, these terms are very confusing for the authors. Free Journals should be used only for those journals that are free for article publication and do not charge any kind of fee from the author to publish their research work. On the other hand, open-access journals should be used only for those journals that allow everyone to read and download articles freely without charging any kind of fee (neither access fee nor subscription fee).

Before proceeding further to discuss both terms, ‘free journals’ and ‘open access journals’; let me introduce you few free open-access refereed journals published by AIJR.

Free journals with open access by AIJR

(free to publish and free to read).

• Journal of Modern Materials  (Materials Research Journal)
• Advanced Nano Research  (Journal for Nanoscience Research)
• Journal of Modeling and Simulation of Materials  (Simulation Journal)
• Extensive Reviews (Publishes only Review Papers from All Academic Fields)
• International Journal of Methodology (Articles focusing on Research Methodologies)

Besides Free Publication (Normal Publication), the above journals are also offering rapid review through optional fast-track publication , and the author needs to send an additional email request to consider articles under the fast track. All submitted articles to journals published by AIJR undergo peer review and upon acceptance made available immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download.

Let’s back to our discussion to differentiate between the terms “Free Journals” and “Open Access Journals”. Open Access is a standard term that simply means that the journal articles under open access will be available free to read, download, and reuse as per license terms of the journal. This term has further been classified into, Gold, Green, and Hybrid open access based on the embargo time to make the article freely available and archiving policy for the authors. Since the term “open access” is self-explanatory that, the article will be available freely, I think there is no need to use the term “Free Journal” for those journals whose only article is available freely based on the open access model. Using the term ‘Free journal’ for those whose only published articles are available freely confuses authors with the free publication.

Open Access Journal with Low-cost publication

(free to read but not free to publish).

AIJR also offers low-cost ($50) publication under the regular publication model in the following journals-

• Advanced Journal of Social Science  (All fields related to Social Sciences & Humanities)
• International Annals of Science  (All research fields of Science disciplines)
• Advanced Journal of Graduate Research (Specific Journal for Bachelor / Master Degree Student’s Research)

Many publishers list their journals under the term Free Journal and by free journal, they meant open access journals which confuses many authors. Free Journals normally should be considered only those journals that offer free publication without charging any kind of fee from the author(s). We can find many blogpost complaints about journals that were supposed to be free but after acceptance author suddenly received a bill to pay. I think those things happen due to publishers highlighting those journals as free journals instead of saying open access and the author might not read the full terms and conditions for publishing and get trapped. I believe that journal publishers should use the proper term “Free Journal” for free publication and “Open Access” for free article availability to avoid confusion and trapping authors. Journal publishers should use the terms “Free Open access journals” or its other variant only when they are offering both, free publishing as well as free availability.

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Fast Track Journals for Faster Review

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Thesis vs Journal Article: A Comprehensive Comparison

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Publish with Elsevier

Learn about the publication process and how to submit your manuscript. This tutorial will help you find the right journal and maximize the chance to be published.

Your step-by-step guide to publishing with Elsevier

Every year, we accept and publish more than 470,000 journal articles so you are in safe hands. Publishing in an Elsevier journal starts with finding the right journal for your paper. We have tools, resources and services to help you at each stage of the publication journey to enable you to research, write, publish, promote and track your article. Let us help you make the most out of your next publication!

1. Find a journal

Find out the journals that could be best suited for publishing your research. For a comprehensive list of Elsevier journals check our Journal Catalog . You can also match your manuscript using the JournalFinder tool, then learn more about each journal.

JournalFinder

Search the world's leading source of academic journals for a list of recommended journals that best match your research paper. You can search by using your abstract, or by using keywords and other details .

Read the journal's aims and scope to make sure it is a match

Check whether you can submit — some journals are invitation only

Use journal metrics to understand the impact of a journal

If available, check the journal at Journal Insights opens in new tab/window for additional info about impact, speed and reach

2. Prepare your paper for submission

Download our  get published quick guide opens in new tab/window , which outlines the essential steps in preparing a paper. (This is also available in  Chinese opens in new tab/window ). It is very important that you stick to the specific "guide for authors" of the journal to which you are submitting. This can be found on the journal's home page.

You can find information about the publishing process in the understanding the publishing process opens in new tab/window guide. It covers topics such as authors' rights, ethics and plagiarism, and journal and article metrics.

If you have research data to share, make sure you read the guide for authors to find out which options the journal offers to share research data with your article.

Read about publishing in a special issue

Use an external editing service, such as Elsevier’s Author Services opens in new tab/window if you need assistance with language

Free e-learning modules on preparing your manuscript can be found on Researcher Academy opens in new tab/window

Mendeley opens in new tab/window makes your life easier by helping you organize your papers, citations and references, accessing them in the cloud on any device, wherever you are

3. Submit and revise

You can submit to most Elsevier journals using our online systems.  The system you use will depend on the journal to which you submit. You can access the relevant submission system via the "submit your paper" link on the Elsevier.com journal homepage of your chosen journal.

Alternatively, if you have been invited to submit to a journal, follow the instructions provided to you. Once submitted, your paper will be considered by the editor and if it passes initial screening, it will be sent for peer review by experts in your field. If deemed unsuitable for publication in your chosen journal, the editor may suggest you transfer your submission to a more suitable journal, via an article transfer service.

Check the open access options on the journal's homepage

Consider the options for sharing your research data

Be accurate and clear when checking your proofs

Inform yourself about copyright and licensing

4. Track your paper

Track your submitted paper.

You can track the status of your submitted paper online. The system you use to track your submission will be the same system to which you submitted. Use the reference number you received after submission to track your submission. Unsure about what the submission status means? Check out  this video opens in new tab/window .

In case of any problems, contact the Support Center opens in new tab/window .

Track your accepted paper

Once your paper is accepted for publication, you will receive a reference number and a direct link that lets you follow its publication status via Elsevier’s "Track Your Accepted Article" service.

Even without a notification you can track the status of your article by entering your article reference number and corresponding author surname in  Track your accepted article opens in new tab/window .

5. Share and promote

Now that your article is published, you can promote it to achieve a bigger impact for your research. Sharing research, accomplishments and ambitions with a wider audience makes you more visible in your field. This helps you get cited more, enabling you to cultivate a stronger reputation, promote your research and move forward in your career.

After publication, celebrate and  get noticed opens in new tab/window !

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Beyond Harvard: Library Resources for HKS Alumni

• Free Resources
• Using the HKS Library as an Alum

Introduction

Hks library research guides, articles & books, policy research, open source software.

• Maximize Your Searching
• Other Libraries

License agreements and copyright laws prevent Harvard libraries from offering alumni complete access to online resources. There is, however, a large and growing body of resources available to everyone, thanks to library digitization projects, the open access movement, and other efforts.

Our 40+ expertly curated Research Guides are freely available online. These guides offer subject-specific resources on topics like:

• COVID-19 resources for social scientists
• Campaigns & Elections
• Human Rights
• National & International Security
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

If a resource listed in our guides doesn't specify "Harvard Login," it is likely freely available online.

Zotero is a free and open-source citation management software that allows you to manage your research materials, create bibliographies, format citations, take notes, and collaborate with others.

You can download Zotero even after graduation, and refer to Harvard Library's online guide for help.

All the content you've added to Zotero before graduation will stay in your account. Any new content you add after your HKS email becomes inactive will be subject to Zotero's 300MB free limit. You can purchase more storage online.

Make sure to change your email!

Your student HKS email account and address will remain active for one year after your status is officially changed to Graduate in Harvard's systems. Before this happens, add a personal email address to your Zotero account so you don't get locked out of your content.

Login to Zotero online .

Click on your username in the upper right corner, then select "Settings" from the drop-down.

Click on the "Account" tab.

Under "Add email address," add your personal email address.

Once your HKS email becomes inactive, delete that address from this page. Your personal email will become the primary one associated with your Zotero account.

Many online platforms provide free access to articles, citations, and even full-text books.

• Developing Nations Initiative List of free or low cost scholarly literature access programs for residents of developing countries. Eligibility criteria vary by program.
• Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) DASH is Harvard's central open-access repository. It hosts scholarly work by HKS affiliates including faculty, Centers, and students, and other Harvard community members.
• Digital Commons Network Access to 600,000 publications from almost 300 institutions. Search by keyword or topic.
• Digital Public Library of America Online books, maps, photos, and much more from libraries, archives, and museums, freely available to all.
• Directory of Open Access Books Voted one of the best free reference sites by an ALA reference librarian group, this site enables the user to find free, open access books online.
• Directory of Open Access Journals Directory of free, full text, scientific and scholarly journals. Currently contains over 7,500 titles.
• EconBiz Provides citations and some full-text access to articles on business, management, and economics topics in (mainly) scholarly journals; since EconBiz is edited in Germany, it offers excellent coverage of European publications.
• ERIC A wide variety of journal and non-journal literature in the field of education. Not all material is available in full text.
• Google Scholar Search scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources, including legal cases. Not all content in this search is freely available.
• HathiTrust A shared digital repository created by major research libraries. Features millions of digitized texts, some freely available in full-text, some limited to search-only.
• Internet Archive Digitized books, journals, audio, video, and more, all free. In addition to contemporary texts, includes a wealth of digitized historical material.
• Journalist's Resource A project of the Shorenstein Center, this site surfaces scholarly materials that may be relevant to media practitioners, bloggers, educators, students and general readers. Some of their articles outline how journalists can access academic research for free.
• National Academies Press Collection of over 5,000 academic titles available to read online at no cost.
• NBER: National Bureau of Economic Research Free access to working papers 18 months and older.
• Open Access Theses and Dissertations Resource for locating open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. more... less... This is an index of over 1.6 million electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). To the extent possible, the index is limited to records of graduate-level theses that are freely available online.
• OpenDOAR OpenDOAR is an authoritative directory of academic open access repositories. Repositories can be located by subject and location. The site also links to a customized Google search of the open access repositories included in this directory.
• PolicyArchive An open access repository of public policy research by think tanks, NGOs, CRS, and university centers.
• Project Gutenberg Over 49,000 free books available in a variety of downloadable formats.
• PubMed Central (PMC) Repository of articles produced with the support of NIH research grants and made publically available within 12 months of publication. Not all material is available in full text.
• Rand Corporation Publications dating from 1946. Topics include criminal justice, national security, terrorism, international affairs, healthcare and energy.
• RePEc: Research Papers in Economics Provides links to working papers and journal articles in economics. Try the IDEAS service.
• SSRN: Social Science Research Network Contains working papers in social science, law and business/economics fields. Registration is required.
• Open Access Button

Think Tank Search

Think Tank Search searches the websites of institutions that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. These sites are affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, and non-governmental organizations. Inclusion is based upon the relevancy of subject area to HKS coursework and scholarship, the availability of the think tank’s research in full-text on the website, and the think tank’s reputation and influence upon policy making. The list represents a mixture of partisan and non-partisan think tanks.

Other Policy Resources

• Policy Commons: Global Think Tanks Collection of research from the world’s leading policy experts, think tanks, IGOs and NGOs. At last count it contains over 3 million publications from more than 24,000 organizations.
• Open Research Reports from JSTOR More than 39,000 research reports from over 140 policy institutes around the world are freely accessible to everyone on JSTOR. The open research reports are discoverable alongside journals, books, and primary sources, and are clearly labeled as their own content type.
• Find Policy A side project of Transparify, search think tank sites grouped by topic and location.
• Open Think Tank Directory A global collection of 2700 think tanks and related organisations.

Repository of think tank publications on EU affairs from the Library of the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU.

Open source software is distributed with its source code, making it freely available for use. There are open-source alternatives to many of the commercial software tools Harvard licenses.

Adobe Creative Cloud Alternatives

Pdf editing (adobe acrobat dc).

• LibreOffice Draw

Visual Effects & Motion Graphics (Adobe After Effects)

• Synfig Studio

Digital Audio (Adobe Audition)

Vector graphics (adobe illustrator), desktop publishing (adobe indesign).

• Microsoft Publisher Not open source, but included in Office 365 subscriptions.

Transcoding (Adobe Media Encoder)

• MLT Framework
• FFmpeg Requires knowledge of command line interface.

Raster Graphics (Adobe Photoshop)

Video editing (adobe premiere pro), arcgis alternative.

• QGIS All the same functionality as ArcGIS in an open-source tool.

NVivo Alternatives

NVivo offers a free 14-day trial and 24-month subscriptions, with discounts available for students. Other free and less expensive options include:

• Dedoose Commercial alternative to NVivo. Offers 30-day trial then payments only per active month. Discounts available.
• qdap R package for qualitative data analysis.
• RQDA R package for qualitative data analysis.
• ELAN Originally developed for linguistics rather than qualitative social science research.
• Taguette Text tagging.

Tableau Alternatives

Tableau Desktop offers a free one-year license for students . Other alternatives include:

• Tableau Public
• Datawrapper Decent amount of features but visualizations are watermarked.
• Google Data Studio Primarily for building dashboards.

Screencasting

Text mining & natural language processing.

• Quanteda R package for textual analysis and natural language processing.
• Voyant Less powerful than Quanteda but easier to learn.
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Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy

Explore millions of high-quality primary sources and images from around the world, including artworks, maps, photographs, and more.

Explore migration issues through a variety of media types

• Part of The Streets are Talking: Public Forms of Creative Expression from Around the World
• Part of The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Winter 2020)
• Part of Cato Institute (Aug. 3, 2021)
• Part of University of California Press
• Part of Open: Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture
• Part of Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Winter 2012)
• Part of R Street Institute (Nov. 1, 2020)
• Part of Leuven University Press
• Part of UN Secretary-General Papers: Ban Ki-moon (2007-2016)
• Part of Perspectives on Terrorism, Vol. 12, No. 4 (August 2018)
• Part of Leveraging Lives: Serbia and Illegal Tunisian Migration to Europe, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Mar. 1, 2023)
• Part of UCL Press

Harness the power of visual materials—explore more than 3 million images now on JSTOR.

Enhance your scholarly research with underground newspapers, magazines, and journals.

Explore collections in the arts, sciences, and literature from the world’s leading museums, archives, and scholars.

Publications

This is our catalog of publications authored by IBM researchers, in collaboration with the global research community. We’re currently adding our back catalog of more than 110,000 publications. It’s an ever-growing body of work that shows why IBM is one of the most important contributors to modern computing.

Featured collections

• ICASSP 2024
• APS March Meeting 2024

Popular topics

• AI Hardware
• Foundation Models
• Machine Learning
• Materials Discovery
• Quantum Safe
• Quantum Software
• Quantum Systems
• Semiconductors

Automated Synthesis of Effect Graph Policies for Microservice-Aware Stateful System Call Specialization

• Fred Araujo
• S&P 2024

Unraveling the Key Components of OOD Generalization via Diversification

• Harold Benoit
• Liangze Jiang

Never Train from Scratch: Fair Comparison of Long-Sequence Models Requires Data-Driven Priors

• Jonathan Berant

SalUn: Empowering Machine Unlearning via Gradient-Based Weight Saliency in Both Image Classification and Generation

• Chongyu Fan
• Jiancheng Liu

Isogeny problems with level structure

• Luca De Feo
• Tako Boris Fouotsa
• Eurocrypt 2024

High-Resolution WRF Wind Field Dataset for GHG Applications: Navigating Computational Challenges in Energy Research

• Karthik Mukkavilli
• AGU Fall 2023

Model Sparsity Can Simplify Machine Unlearning

• Jinghan Jia
• NeurIPS 2023

MIMONets: Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output Neural Networks Exploiting Computation in Superposition

• Nicolas Menet
• Michael Hersche

3D-LLM: Injecting the 3D World into Large Language Models

• Yining Hong

Realistic Synthetic Financial Transactions for Anti-Money Laundering Models

• Erik Altman
• Jovan Blanusa

• Introduction
• Conclusions
• Article Information

MRI indicates magnetic resonance imaging.

A, Shading indicates standard error. B, Dots represent individual participants; thick lines represent the group mean. C, Percentage of patients reporting pain scores of 0 or 1 of 10 (ie, pain-free or nearly pain-free) at posttreatment and at 1-year follow-up. PRT indicates pain reprocessing therapy.

A, Error bars show standard error. B, Coordinates and statistics for activations provided in eTable 7 in Supplement 2 ; analyses conducted within a mask of regions of interest; eFigure 1 in Supplement 2 . C, Decreased evoked pain-related activity was observed in anterior midcingulate (aMCC) and anterior prefrontal regions for PRT vs placebo and left anterior insula for PRT vs usual care. D, Error bars show standard error. E, PRT vs control conditions increased aPFC-seeded (red clusters) and aIns-seeded (green clusters) connectivity with primary somatosensory cortex (permutation test, P  < .05). Inset shows seed regions, derived from evoked pain analyses; magenta outlines, PRT vs placebo; black outlines, PRT vs usual care. F, PRT vs usual care increased connectivity between an aMCC seed (yellow; derived from evoked back pain analyses) and the precuneus (orange). Connectivity analyses were conducted within primary somatosensory cortex and medial default mode network masks.

a P  < .001.

b P  < .05.

Trial protocol

eDiscussion

eTable 1. Spinal anomalies among participants randomized to PRT

eTable 2. Treatment response rates

eTable 3. Secondary clinical outcomes measured only at pretreatment and posttreatment

eTable 4. Treatment satisfaction and patient global impression of change

eTable 5. Mediation results

eTable 6. Values for mediators at each timepoint

eTable 7. Evoked back pain localizer results

eTable 8. Regions showing pretreatment to posttreatment connectivity changes for PRT vs placebo or PRT vs usual care

eFigure 1. Evoked back pain localizer

eFigure 2. Target masks for seed connectivity analyses

eFigure 3. Individual trajectories of pain intensity for participants in the PRT, placebo and usual care groups

eFigure 4. Effects of PRT on pain-related fear and avoidance and beliefs that pain indicates injury

eFigure 5. Evoked back pain at pretreatment

eFigure 6. High vs low thumb pressure stimulation

eFigure 7. Histogram of quality control-functional connectivity correlations for spontaneous pain scans

eFigure 8. Continuous pain regressors for 4 randomly chosen sample individuals

eAppendix 1. Initial medical pain assessment and education session

eAppendix 2. Pain reprocessing therapy description

eAppendix 3. PRT treatment fidelity checklist

eReferences

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Ashar YK , Gordon A , Schubiner H, et al. Effect of Pain Reprocessing Therapy vs Placebo and Usual Care for Patients With Chronic Back Pain : A Randomized Clinical Trial . JAMA Psychiatry. 2022;79(1):13–23. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.2669

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Effect of Pain Reprocessing Therapy vs Placebo and Usual Care for Patients With Chronic Back Pain : A Randomized Clinical Trial

• 1 Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York City, New York
• 2 Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder
• 3 Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado, Boulder
• 4 Pain Psychology Center, Los Angeles, California
• 5 Ascension Providence Hospital, Southfield, Michigan
• 6 Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, East Lansing
• 7 Panorama Orthopedics and Spine Center, Golden, Colorado
• 8 Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
• 9 Department of Philosophy, Washington University in Saint Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri
• 10 Johns Hopkins University Department of Biostatistics, Baltimore, Maryland
• 11 Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
• 12 Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
• 13 Renée Crown Wellness Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder
• 14 Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
• 15 Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire

Question   Can a psychological treatment based on the reappraisal of primary chronic back pain as due to nondangerous central nervous system processes provide substantial and durable pain relief?

Findings   In this randomized clinical trial, 33 of 50 participants (66%) randomized to 4 weeks of pain reprocessing therapy were pain-free or nearly pain-free at posttreatment, compared with 10 of 51 participants (20%) randomized to placebo and 5 of 50 participants (10%) randomized to usual care, with gains largely maintained through 1-year follow-up. Treatment effects on pain were mediated by reduced beliefs that pain indicates tissue damage, and longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging showed reduced prefrontal responses to evoked back pain and increased resting prefrontal-somatosensory connectivity in patients randomized to treatment relative to patients randomized to placebo or usual care.

Meaning   Psychological treatment focused on changing beliefs about the causes and threat value of primary chronic back pain may provide substantial and durable pain relief.

Importance   Chronic back pain (CBP) is a leading cause of disability, and treatment is often ineffective. Approximately 85% of cases are primary CBP, for which peripheral etiology cannot be identified, and maintenance factors include fear, avoidance, and beliefs that pain indicates injury.

Objective   To test whether a psychological treatment (pain reprocessing therapy [PRT]) aiming to shift patients’ beliefs about the causes and threat value of pain provides substantial and durable pain relief from primary CBP and to investigate treatment mechanisms.

Design, Setting, and Participants   This randomized clinical trial with longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and 1-year follow-up assessment was conducted in a university research setting from November 2017 to August 2018, with 1-year follow-up completed by November 2019. Clinical and fMRI data were analyzed from January 2019 to August 2020. The study compared PRT with an open-label placebo treatment and with usual care in a community sample.

Interventions   Participants randomized to PRT participated in 1 telehealth session with a physician and 8 psychological treatment sessions over 4 weeks. Treatment aimed to help patients reconceptualize their pain as due to nondangerous brain activity rather than peripheral tissue injury, using a combination of cognitive, somatic, and exposure-based techniques. Participants randomized to placebo received an open-label subcutaneous saline injection in the back; participants randomized to usual care continued their routine, ongoing care.

Main Outcomes and Measures   One-week mean back pain intensity score (0 to 10) at posttreatment, pain beliefs, and fMRI measures of evoked pain and resting connectivity.

Results   At baseline, 151 adults (54% female; mean [SD] age, 41.1 [15.6] years) reported mean (SD) pain of low to moderate severity (mean [SD] pain intensity, 4.10 [1.26] of 10; mean [SD] disability, 23.34 [10.12] of 100) and mean (SD) pain duration of 10.0 (8.9) years. Large group differences in pain were observed at posttreatment, with a mean (SD) pain score of 1.18 (1.24) in the PRT group, 2.84 (1.64) in the placebo group, and 3.13 (1.45) in the usual care group. Hedges g was −1.14 for PRT vs placebo and −1.74 for PRT vs usual care ( P  < .001). Of 151 total participants, 33 of 50 participants (66%) randomized to PRT were pain-free or nearly pain-free at posttreatment (reporting a pain intensity score of 0 or 1 of 10), compared with 10 of 51 participants (20%) randomized to placebo and 5 of 50 participants (10%) randomized to usual care. Treatment effects were maintained at 1-year follow-up, with a mean (SD) pain score of 1.51 (1.59) in the PRT group, 2.79 (1.78) in the placebo group, and 3.00 (1.77) in the usual care group. Hedges g was −0.70 for PRT vs placebo ( P  = .001) and −1.05 for PRT vs usual care ( P  < .001) at 1-year follow-up. Longitudinal fMRI showed (1) reduced responses to evoked back pain in the anterior midcingulate and the anterior prefrontal cortex for PRT vs placebo; (2) reduced responses in the anterior insula for PRT vs usual care; (3) increased resting connectivity from the anterior prefrontal cortex and the anterior insula to the primary somatosensory cortex for PRT vs both control groups; and (4) increased connectivity from the anterior midcingulate to the precuneus for PRT vs usual care.

Conclusions and Relevance   Psychological treatment centered on changing patients’ beliefs about the causes and threat value of pain may provide substantial and durable pain relief for people with CBP.

Trial Registration   ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03294148 .

Chronic pain affects 20% of people in the US, with an estimated annual cost of more than $600 billion. 1 , 2 The most common type is chronic back pain (CBP). In approximately 85% of cases, definitive peripheral causes of CBP cannot be identified, and central nervous system processes are thought to maintain pain. 3 - 7 For people with this type of CBP— often referred to as primary, nonspecific, nociplastic, or centralized pain—psychological and behavioral treatments are recommended. 8 - 10 Although these treatments can improve functioning, reductions in pain intensity are limited 11 , 12 and better treatments are needed.

Quiz Ref ID Advances in the neuroscience of pain 13 - 17 and interoception 18 - 21 suggest new directions for treatment development. In constructionist and active inference models, pain is a prediction about bodily harm, shaped by sensory input and context-based predictions. 18 , 19 , 22 - 26 Fearful appraisals of tissue damage can cause innocuous somatosensory input to be interpreted and experienced as painful. 22 , 24 , 27 , 28 Such constructed perceptions can become self-reinforcing: threat appraisals enhance pain, which is in turn threatening, creating positive feedback loops that maintain pain after initial injuries have healed. 27 , 29 - 31

As pain becomes chronic, it is increasingly associated with activity in the affective and motivational systems tied to avoidance and less closely tied to systems encoding nociceptive input. 14 , 32 - 34 Accordingly, brain regions serving allostasis and predictive control 18 , 23 —including the default mode network, somatosensory and insular cortices, amygdala, and nucleus accumbens—have been implicated in animal models 13 - 17 and human studies of chronic pain 22 , 25 , 32 , 33 , 35 , 36 and pain modulation. 24 , 25 , 28 , 37 - 39

We developed pain reprocessing therapy (PRT) based on this understanding of primary chronic pain. Leading psychological interventions for pain typically present the causes of pain as multifaceted and aim primarily to improve functioning and secondarily to reduce pain. PRT emphasizes that the brain actively constructs primary chronic pain in the absence of tissue damage and that reappraising the causes and threat value of pain can reduce or eliminate it.

In this study, we conducted the first test of PRT. In a randomized clinical trial with 1-year follow-up, we compared PRT with both open-label placebo and usual care control conditions. We tested hypothesized mechanisms of PRT with mediation analyses and longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during spontaneously occurring and evoked back pain. fMRI provided objective correlates of treatment effects and identified potential neurobiological treatment mechanisms.

The trial was preregistered on ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT03294148 ) and conducted from August 2017 to November 2018, with 1-year follow-up completed by November 2019. Clinical and fMRI data were analyzed from January 2019 to August 2020, after data collection at each follow-up timepoint was complete. Participants aged 21 to 70 years with back pain for at least half the days of the last 6 months and 1-week average pain intensity score of 4 of 10 or greater at screening were recruited from the community in Boulder, Colorado. We targeted primary CBP, excluding patients with leg pain worse than back pain (eMethods in Supplement 2 ). Power analysis targeted 80% power (α = .05) to detect a medium effect ( d  = 0.62) on pain intensity at the primary end point (eMethods in Supplement 2). Participants provided written informed consent as approved by the University of Colorado Institutional Review Board. The study followed the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials ( CONSORT ) reporting guideline for social and psychological intervention trials.

Participants completed an eligibility and consent session, followed by a baseline assessment session with fMRI. They were subsequently randomized to PRT, placebo, or usual care with equal probability, balancing on age, sex, baseline pain, and opioid use using an imbalance-minimization algorithm 40 (eMethods in Supplement  2 ). The primary end point (posttreatment fMRI session) occurred 1 month after the baseline fMRI. Participants completed online follow-up assessments at 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 months after the primary end point ( Figure 1 ).

PRT seeks to promote patients’ reconceptualization of primary (nociplastic) chronic pain as a brain-generated false alarm. PRT shares some concepts and techniques with existing treatments for pain 41 - 48 and with the cognitive behavioral treatment of panic disorder. 66

Participants completed a 1-hour telehealth evaluation and education session with a physician (H.S.) assessing likely centralized vs peripheral contributions to pain, including a review of available preexisting spinal imaging. Assessment findings and centralized pain education were shared with the patient (eAppendix 1 in Supplement 2 ).

Quiz Ref ID Participants then completed 8 individual 1-hour therapy sessions with a therapist with extensive PRT experience (A.G. or C.U.) twice weekly for 4 weeks. Techniques included (1) providing personalized evidence for centralized pain; (2) guided reappraisal of pain sensations while seated and while engaging in feared postures or movements; (3) techniques addressing psychosocial threats (eg, difficult emotions) potentially amplifying pain; and (4) techniques to increase positive emotions and self-compassion. PRT followed the treatment protocol found in eAppendix 2 in Supplement 2 .

Treatment fidelity was assessed by independent raters coding audiorecordings of PRT sessions (eMethods and eAppendix 3 in Supplement 2 ). A mean (SD) of 4.93 (0.87) of 6 PRT elements were present in each session, and all sessions included at least 3 elements, indicating high treatment fidelity.

Participants watched 2 videos describing how placebo treatments can powerfully relieve pain even when known to be inert (eg, they can automatically trigger the body’s natural healing response). 49 A subcutaneous injection described as saline was administered by a physician (K.K.) at the site of greatest back pain during an empathic, validating clinical encounter at an orthopedic medical center. Open-label placebo treatments are as effective or nearly as effective as traditional (deceptive) placebos for CBP and other chronic symptoms when administered in this manner (eMethods in Supplement 2 ). 50 - 52 Participants in this group were also asked to continue their ongoing care as usual and not start other new treatments until after the study period.

Participants in this group were given no additional treatment. They agreed to continue their ongoing care as usual and not start new treatments before the posttreatment assessment. After the posttreatment assessment, they were given a chronic pain workbook 53 and access to http://www.unlearnyourpain.com .

The primary outcome was average pain over the last week on a numerical rating scale from 0 to 10 from the Brief Pain Inventory Short Form, assessed at the 1-month postbaseline session. We also calculated the proportion of participants reporting pain reduction of 30% or more, pain reduction of 50% or more, and a pain score of 0 or 1, indicating a pain-free or nearly pain-free state. Secondary outcomes included pain interference (Oswestry Disability Index); Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) short forms for depression, anxiety, anger, and sleep quality; and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (measure details in the eMethods in Supplement 2 ).

We considered 3 measures of pain beliefs as potential mediators: (1) the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK-11), assessing belief that pain indicates injury and fear of movement; (2) the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS); and (3) the Survey of Pain Attitudes Emotion subscale (SOPA-Emotion), assessing beliefs that stress and negative emotion increase pain. Adverse events were recorded when participants spontaneously reported them to study personnel. Baseline pain was computed as the average score from 2 prerandomization assessments (eligibility session and pretreatment fMRI session).

Structural T1 and multiband blood oxygenation level–dependent functional imaging was conducted on a 3-T Siemens Prisma Fit MRI scanner with standard fMRI preprocessing (eMethods in Supplement 2 ). During fMRI, participants completed (1) an evoked back pain task with a series of randomly ordered trials distending the back to 1 of 4 intensity levels and (2) a spontaneous pain scan in which participants rested and rated ongoing pain once per minute (design details in the eMethods in Supplement 2 ; fMRI data quality measures shown in eFigures 6 and 7 in Supplement 2 ). Participants rated pain during scanning on a visual analog scale from 0 (no pain) to 100 (worst pain imaginable).

Intent-to-treat analyses (including all randomized patients) were performed for the primary outcome with a mixed-effects model ( fitlme , MATLAB 2020a), including 2 group × time interactions (PRT vs placebo × posttreatment vs pretreatment and PRT vs usual care × posttreatment vs pretreatment), covariates for age and sex, and a random intercept per participant. Treatment response rates for 30% or greater reduction in pain, 50% or greater reduction in pain, and a pain-free or nearly pain-free state at posttreatment and 1-year follow-up were based on all randomized patients; those missing data were considered nonresponders. For follow-up time points and secondary outcomes, we calculated Hedges g for the PRT vs placebo and PRT vs usual care comparisons. Follow-up time points were analyzed individually, testing group differences in change from baseline to each time points. The placebo vs usual care comparison will be reported elsewhere.

To investigate psychological treatment mechanisms, we (1) correlated pretreatment to posttreatment changes in pain intensity with pretreatment to posttreatment changes in pain beliefs (TSK-11, PCS, and SOPA-Emotion) within each group and (2) tested pretreatment to posttreatment changes in pain beliefs as mediators of treatment effects on pain at follow-up timepoints (1 through 12 months posttreatment), controlling for baseline pain. PRT vs placebo and PRT vs usual care were tested in separate models. We also tested the reverse: whether pretreatment to posttreatment pain reductions mediated treatment effects on pain beliefs at follow-up, controlling for baseline pain beliefs (eMethods in Supplement 2 ). Correlational and mediation analyses were not prespecified in the trial protocol.

An evoked back pain localizer identified brain regions positively associated with evoked back pain intensity at baseline. The localizer was conducted within a mask of regions of interest (medial prefrontal, posteromedial, insula, cingulate, and somatosensory cortices; amygdala; and nucleus accumbens; eMethods and eFigure 1 in Supplement 2 ; localizer task design in eFigure 8 in Supplement 2 ). We tested for treatment effects (group × time interactions) in the average activity of clusters positively associated with evoked back pain using a mixed-effects (random-effects) model, applying a 1-tailed threshold of P  < .05 owing to directional hypotheses that PRT would reduce activity in pain-positive clusters.

Evoked pain analyses identified group × time interactions in the anterior insula, anterior midcingulate (aMCC), and a prefrontal region. We submitted these 3 regions as seeds to connectivity analyses in the spontaneous pain scan. We conducted permutation tests (threshold-free cluster-enhancement; eMethods in Supplement 2 ) testing for group × time interactions in connectivity between these seed regions and 2 areas most often demonstrating altered connectivity in chronic pain: (1) the midline default mode network, including the medial prefrontal and posteromedial cortex, and (2) primary somatosensory cortex (S1) 36 , 54 - 59 (masks in eFigure 2 in Supplement 2 ).

We randomized 151 participants (54% female; mean [SD] age, 41.1 [15.6] years; mean [SD] CBP duration, 10.0 [8.9] years). At baseline, patients reported low to moderate pain intensity scores (mean [SD], 4.10 [1.26]) to 4.41 [1.29]) and disability (mean [SD], 23.34 [10.12] on the Oswestry Disability Index), with similar pain and demographic characteristics across groups ( Table 1 ).

Of 50 participants randomized to PRT, 44 (88%) completed all treatment sessions and the posttreatment assessment. Five participants dropped out prior to initiating PRT and 1 had an unrelated medical emergency. Of 51 participants randomized to placebo, 44 (86%) received the treatment, all of whom completed the posttreatment assessment. Of the 50 participants randomized to usual care, 47 (94%) completed the posttreatment assessment ( Figure 1 ).

Twenty patients in the PRT group had preexisting spinal imaging, all of which showed at least 1 spinal anomaly (median of 4 findings per patient; eTable 1 in Supplement 2 ) assessed by a physician (H.S.) as not causal of pain (eMethods and eAppendix 1 in Supplement 2 ). 61

Quiz Ref ID Patients randomized to PRT reported substantial reductions in pain intensity at posttreatment compared with both control groups, with a mean (SD) pain score of 1.18 (1.24) in the PRT group, 2.84 (1.64) in the placebo group, and 3.13 (1.45) in the usual care group ( Figure 2 ; Table 2 ). Patients in the PRT group reported a pain reduction of 1.79 (on the 0 to 10 numerical rating scale) relative to placebo ( t 137.63  = 6.06; P  <  . 001; g , −1.14; 95% CI, −1.65 to −0.71) and reported a pain reduction of 2.40 relative to the usual care group ( t 135.69  = 8.13; P  <  . 001; g , −1.74; 95% CI, −2.28 to −1.32). A total of 33 of 50 patients randomized to PRT (66%), corresponding to 73% of the 45 patients who initiated PRT, were pain-free or nearly pain-free at posttreatment, compared with 10 of 51 patients (20%) in the placebo group and 5 of 50 patients (10%) in the usual care group. At 1-year follow-up, effects of PRT on pain remained large relative to both control groups, with a mean (SD) pain score of 1.51 (1.59) in the PRT group, 2.79 (1.78) in the placebo group, and 3.00 (1.77) in the usual care group. Hedges g was −0.70 for PRT vs placebo ( P  = .001) and −1.05 for PRT vs usual care ( P  < .001) ( Table 2 ; treatment response rates in eTable 2 in Supplement 2 ; individual patient pain trajectories in eFigure 3 in Supplement 2 ).

Analyses of secondary outcomes at posttreatment revealed significant reductions in disability and anger for PRT vs both controls ( g , −0.62 to −1.7; P  < .005) and improvements in sleep ( g , −0.56; P  = .009) and depression ( g , −0.63; P  = .003) relative to usual care ( Table 2 ). Treatment gains on secondary outcomes were largely maintained at 1-year follow-up ( Table 2 ). Significant PRT vs control effects were observed at posttreatment for positive affect (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; g for PRT vs placebo, 0.63, g for PRT vs usual care, 0.59; P  < .005; eTable 3 in Supplement 2 ) but not for negative affect or alcohol, cannabis, or opioid use (eTable 3 in Supplement 2 ). Treatment satisfaction was high among participants in the PRT group (eTable 4 in Supplement 2 ).

Pretreatment to posttreatment reductions in TSK-11 and pain intensity scores were correlated among participants in the PRT group ( r 42  = 0.44; P  = .003; eFigure 4 in Supplement 2 ). This correlation was not significant for the placebo condition ( r 42  = 0.16; P  = .29) or usual care condition ( r 45  = 0.27; P  = .07). Pretreatment to posttreatment changes in PCS and SOPA-Emotion scores did not correlate with pain reductions within any group.

Pretreatment to posttreatment reductions in TSK-11 scores mediated PRT vs placebo and PRT vs usual care effects on pain intensity at most follow-up time points (eFigure 4 and eTables 5 and 6 in Supplement 2 ). The reverse was also true: pretreatment to posttreatment pain reductions mediated PRT vs placebo and PRT vs usual care effects on TSK-11 at follow-up. Pretreatment to posttreatment changes in PCS and SOPA-Emotion did not mediate PRT vs control effects at any follow-up time point. Treatment effects on TSK-11 were very large at posttreatment ( g for PRT vs placebo, −1.90; g for PRT vs usual care,−1.67; P  < .001).

Neither age nor sex moderated the treatment effect on pain intensity (eMethods in Supplement 2 ). No adverse events were reported for PRT.

At baseline, increased back distention led to increased pain (mean [SD] for distention level 1, 32.15 [18.57]; distention level 2, 37.91 [20.30]; distention level 3, 46.70 [21.71]; distention level 4, 52.73 [21.78]). There was a significant effect of distention level on pain (mean [SD] β for inflation, 7.05 [5.06]; t 95  = 13.64; P  < .001. Individual patient-evoked pain data are shown in eFigure 5 in Supplement 2 .

Patients receiving PRT reported significant pretreatment to posttreatment reductions in evoked back pain relative to placebo (β, −13.05 on a 101-point visual analog scale; t 122.85  = −2.82; P  = .006; g , −0.60; 95% CI, −1.06 to −0.16) and relative to usual care (β, −19.61; t 79.52  = −4.03; P  < .001; g , −0.99; 95% CI, −1.50 to −0.55; Figure 3 A). Among patients in the PRT group, pretreatment to posttreatment reductions in evoked back pain and 1-week average back pain intensity were correlated ( r 32  = 0.47; P  = .005).

Quiz Ref ID Localizer analyses identified 16 regions within the mask of interest positively associated with evoked pain intensity, including bilateral insula, cingulate, bilateral somatotopic back areas S1 and secondary somatosensory cortex, and prefrontal regions ( Figure 3 B; eFigure 1 and eTable 7 in Supplement 2 ). Relative to placebo, PRT reduced pain-related activity in aMCC ( t 133.48  = −1.73; P  = .04) and the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC; t 133.48  = −1.85; P  = .03). Relative to usual care, PRT reduced pain-related activity in the left anterior insula (aIns; t 120.1  = −2.34; P  = .01; Figure 3 C).

Patients receiving PRT reported reductions in spontaneous pain relative to placebo (β, −18.24 on a 101-point visual analog scale; t 140.66  = −4.59; P  < .001; g , −0.92; 95% CI, −1.44 to −0.47) and relative to usual care (β, −21.53; t 79  = −5.26; P  < .001; g , −1.11; 95% CI, −1.66 to −0.66; Figure 3 D).

We submitted the aMCC, aPFC, and aIns regions exhibiting treatment effects in evoked pain analyses as connectivity seed regions in the spontaneous pain task. Within S1, PRT vs placebo and PRT vs usual care led to increased aPFC- and aIns-seeded connectivity to 4 distinct S1 subregions (permutation test COPE-MAX, 3.55-3.91; P  < .05). Within the medial default mode network, PRT vs usual care increased aMCC-precuneus connectivity (permutation test COPE-MAX, 4.23; P  = .01; Figure 3 E; cluster coordinates and statistics in eTable 8 in Supplement 2 ). No group × time interactions were found for aPFC- or aIns-seeded connectivity to default mode network regions or for aMCC-seeded connectivity to S1.

PRT yielded large reductions in CBP intensity relative to open-label placebo and usual care control conditions in a community sample, with nearly two-thirds of randomized patients and 73% of those initiating PRT reporting they were pain-free or nearly pain-free at posttreatment. Large effects of PRT on pain continued at 1-year follow-up. PRT also reduced experimentally evoked back pain and spontaneous pain during fMRI with large effect sizes, and several secondary outcomes (eg, disability and anger) also improved for PRT relative to the control groups.

PRT targets primary (nociplastic) pain by shifting patients’ beliefs about the causes and threat value of pain. It presents pain as a reversible, brain-generated phenomenon not indicative of peripheral pathology, consistent with active inference and constructionist accounts of interoception and pain. 18 , 19 , 22 - 27 PRT builds on and extends existing psychological treatment models. Cognitive-behavioral, acceptance-based, and mindfulness-based interventions typically aim to improve functioning by decreasing pain catastrophizing, enhancing pain coping or acceptance, and promoting engagement in valued life activities. 41 , 44 , 46 , 48 , 62 Exposure-based treatments share with PRT an emphasis that painful activities are not injurious, 42 , 63 - 65 but do not emphasize reappraising pain sensations and reattributing the causes of pain. Some pain neuroscience education interventions present pain in a similar way as PRT, 43 though they typically lack guided exposure and reappraisal exercises.

Large reductions in pain are rarely observed in CBP psychological treatment trials. 11 , 12 Relatively unique components of PRT potentially contributing to the observed effects include (1) an in-depth medical and psychological assessment generating personalized evidence for centralized pain; (2) reattribution of pain to reversible learning- and affect-related brain processes rather than bodily injury; and (3) a unique combination of cognitive, somatic, and exposure-based techniques supporting pain reappraisal (eDiscussion in Supplement 2 ).

Correlational and mediational analysis results support changes in fear-inducing pain beliefs as a potential PRT mechanism. Effects of PRT on pain beliefs were also mediated by pain intensity reductions, perhaps because pain reductions promote beliefs in pain modifiability (eDiscussion in Supplement 2 ). Changes in pain beliefs are not unique to PRT, but PRT may more strongly change these beliefs compared with existing therapies (eTable 6 in Supplement 2 ).

These hypothesized mechanisms are consistent with extinction-based treatment approaches to anxiety disorders. 42 , 65 For example, 85% of patients became free of panic symptoms following treatment focused on reappraising somatic symptoms as caused by nondangerous central nervous system processes (eg, false alarms). 66

PRT reduced evoked pain-related activity in aPFC, aMCC, and aIns. The aPFC and adjacent dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) are implicated in the detection and inhibition of pain. 67 aPFC reductions following PRT suggest a potential reduction of pain-related signals or decreased prioritization of pain control. The aMCC and aIns are cortical convergence zones in the construction of negative affect in pain and other domains. 20 , 68 - 70 Cognitive pain regulation strategies, including mindful acceptance 38 , 39 and placebo analgesia, 24 , 25 , 28 have been found to reduce aMCC and aIns responses to pain, demonstrating parallels between experimental findings and our clinical findings. The aIns reductions in our study were not specific to PRT vs placebo and may reflect processes common to both these interventions.

PRT also increased aPFC and aIns connectivity to S1, aligning with previous findings that cognitive behavioral therapy for fibromyalgia 57 and acupuncture for CBP 55 increased aIns-S1 connectivity. Increased aPFC and aIns connectivity to S1 may reflect increased attention to somatosensory input in constructing pain. 71 This is congruent with mindfulness-based treatments promoting nonreactive attention to bodily sensations, reducing catastrophizing. 38 , 39 , 48 , 71 Yet, increased S1 connectivity has also been associated with increased clinical pain, 72 and the role of S1 connectivity remains unclear. 55 PRT vs usual care also increased aMCC-precuneus connectivity, with intermediate effects observed in participants receiving placebo treatment. Altered default mode connectivity has often been reported in chronic pain, although typically with heightened connectivity for patients vs controls (eDiscussion in Supplement 2 ). 36 , 54 , 56 , 58 , 59

Quiz Ref ID This study has limitations. The study sample was relatively well educated and active and reported long-standing low to moderate pain and disability at baseline. The physician and therapists were experts in the treatment model. Future studies should test generalizability to other patient populations, therapists, and treatment contexts (eDiscussion in Supplement 2 ). The fMRI effect sizes were modest, with some results not surviving whole-brain correction (eMethods in Supplement 2 ). Future trials should test PRT efficacy relative to leading psychological and medical treatments (eDiscussion in Supplement 2 ).

Overall, our findings raise key possibilities about the nature and treatment of primary CBP. Changing fear- and avoidance-inducing beliefs about the causes and threat value of pain may provide substantial, durable pain relief for people with primary CBP.

Accepted for Publication: July 27, 2021.

Published Online: September 29, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.2669

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License . © 2021 Ashar YK et al. JAMA Psychiatry .

Corresponding Author: Tor D. Wager, PhD, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, 352 Moore Hall, HB 6207, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 ( [email protected] ); Yoni K. Ashar, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Ave, New York, NY 10065 ( [email protected] ).

Author Contributions : Drs Ashar and Wager had full access to all the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design : Ashar, Gordon, Schubiner, Uipi, Knight, Geuter, Dimidjian, Wager.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data : Ashar, Gordon, Schubiner, Uipi, Knight, Anderson, Carlisle, Polisky, Geuter, Flood, Kragel, Lumley, Wager.

Drafting of the manuscript : Ashar, Gordon, Schubiner, Polisky, Lumley, Wager.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content : All authors.

Statistical analysis : Ashar, Polisky, Geuter, Lumley, Wager.

Obtained funding : Gordon, Schubiner, Flood, Wager.

Administrative, technical, or material support : Ashar, Uipi, Knight, Anderson, Carlisle, Polisky, Kragel, Dimidjian, Lumley, Wager.

Supervision : Ashar, Gordon, Wager.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Ashar reports grants from the National Institutes of Health during the conduct of the study and personal fees from UnitedHealth Group, Lin Health, Inc, Pain Reprocessing Therapy Center, Inc, and Mental Health Partners of Boulder County outside the submitted work. Mr Gordon is a consultant with UnitedHealth Group, director of the Pain Psychology Center and the Pain Reprocessing Therapy Center, and is the author of the book The Way Out . Dr Schubiner is the co-owner of Freedom From Chronic Pain, Inc, earns book royalties for Unlearn Your Pain, Unlearn Your Anxiety and Depression and Hidden From View ; serves as a consultant with UnitedHealth Group, Karuna Labs, and Curable Health; and receives personal fees from OVID Dx outside the submitted work. Mrs Uipi serves as a consultant for UnitedHealth Group. Dr Dimidjian reports being a co-founder of Mindful Noggin, Inc, and received royalties from Guilford Press and Wolters Kluwer as well as funding from The National Institutes of Health. Dr Lumley reports personal fees from CognifiSense, Inc, outside the submitted work. Dr Wager reports grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Foundation for the Study of the Therapeutic Encounter, and funding to support trainees from the Radiological Society of North America and the German Research Foundation; he is on the Scientific Advisory Board of Curable Health. No other disclosures were reported.

Funding and Support: This study was funded by National Institutes of Health grants R01 DA035484 (Dr Wager), R01 MH076136 (Dr Wager), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences grant TL1-TR-002386 (Dr Ashar), Radiological Society of North America (Dr Flood), German Research Foundation grant GE 2774/1-1 (Dr Geuter), the Psychophysiologic Disorders Association, the Foundation for the Study of the Therapeutic Encounter, and community donations.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Data Sharing Statement: See Supplement 3 .

Additional Information: Deidentified demographic and clinical outcomes data and subject-level functional magnetic resonance imaging statistical parameter maps for evoked pain and seed connectivity are provided here: https://figshare.com/s/1840dc4c0e236a7072ca

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