Troubleshooting & Tips

Unpaywall Troubleshooting

Options for testing Unpaywall Issues

Ex Libris Support shared this information on troubleshooting Unpaywall issues, to determine the root of the issue.

To determine whether the issue is stemming from Unpaywall, you can check a few things:

1. If it’s the service or a CDI collection, it will appear in the Full Text Availability section as part of the line of text containing the word Unpaywall. In this case, you can report it directly on the Unpaywall platform, and the link will be available in Primo within 10 days.
Unpaywall service: https://app.screencast.com/uHmil2yOXhTxt 
Unpaywall CDI collection: https://app.screencast.com/h0gi0mJBahZTy 

2. If it’s related to the 'getPDF' link, you can use the script we use:

javascript:(function(){
var script=document.createElement("SCRIPT");
script.src='https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.min.js ';
script.type='text/javascript';
document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(script);
var checkReady=function(callback){
if(window.jQuery){callback(jQuery)}
else{window.setTimeout(function(){checkReady(callback)},100)}
};
checkReady(function($){
$("md-select").css("width","150px");
$('span, h2, button, img, strong, label').each(function(){
if($(this).attr('translate') != undefined){
$(this).text($(this).attr('translate'));
$(this).css("word-break","break-word");
}
})
})
})();

Running this script will show whether the source of the Get PDF link is Unpaywall. If it's Unpaywall, you would see the word 'unpaywall': https://app.screencast.com/rWp7jBpTmI4yS 

In such cases, you can report the DOI to Unpaywall.

Now, since this involves an API going through ProQuest, if the Get PDF link is not identical to the link on the Unpaywall platform, meaning the link is correct on Unpaywall but not in Primo, this is a ProQuest issue. In such cases, you can open a case to us.
However, we are still experiencing issues with PQ. Therefore, for the time being, we are still handling requests to Unpaywall until we reach alignment in our systems.

Here are a few links that may be helpful.

1. Knowledge article on Unpaywall: 
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Content/Knowledge_Articles/Primo/Knowledge_Articles/Unpaywall_in_CDI_(legacy_article) 

2. Guidance video for using the 'Fix An Error' tool at https://unpaywall.org/fix :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qbAs6djMMI 

3. Unpaywall announcements:
https://groups.google.com/g/unpaywall?pli=1 

4. Open access types:
https://support.unpaywall.org/support/solutions/articles/44001777288-what-do-the-types-of-oa-status-green-gold-hybrid-and-bronze-mean-