As someone who does professional research on the art and culture of Japan, not having access to JSTOR has reduced me to begging my grad student friends in the US to send copies of relevant articles to me. Although JSTOR has recently started alumni programs with some institutions in order to keep grads connected, not all institutions are represented–including my undergrad and graduate schools. Luckily for me, JSTOR has started Register and Read Beta, a new program that grants free limited online access to individuals who register.

Registration is simple, and, according to JSTOR’s facebook page (Jan. 9 post comments), allows access to 70% of JSTOR’s content. Currently available publications relevant to Japan and Asian Studies include Asian Survey, The Journal of Asian Studies, Artibus Asiae, Asian Theatre Journal, Archives of Asian Art, Asian Ethnology, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Japanese Language and Literature, Japan Review, and Journal of Japanese Studies, not to mention relevant articles from journals in other disciplines such as art, gender, and history. Although you can only read three full articles at a time and have a waiting period before you can swap articles, this is a huge step in making JSTOR accessible to independent scholars and grads wanting to keep up in their fields.

It’s good to be back!

See the official press release below for details:

Register & Read Beta is a new, experimental program to offer free, read-online access to individual scholars and researchers who register for a MyJSTOR account. Register & Read follows the release of the Early Journal Content as the next step in our efforts to find sustainable ways to extend access to JSTOR, specifically to those not affiliated with participating institutions.
How does it work?

When you find an article that’s part of Register & Read, click on the “Read Online Free” option.
Register for a free MyJSTOR account, or log into your account if you already have one.
Add the content to your shelf to read the full-text online. After 14 days, you may remove it and add new items to your shelf.
PDF versions of some articles will also be available for purchase and download. If you purchase articles from your shelf, the PDF versions may be stored and accessed in your MyJSTOR account at any time.

Register & Read includes approximately 1,200 journals from more than 700 publishers, a subset of the content in JSTOR. This includes content from the first volume and issue published for these journals through a recent year (generally 3-5 years ago). A list of the titles and publishers is available for download via the “Register & Read Title List” link below. Register & Read is a beta program, and we expect to adjust aspects of the program as needed. This may include both functionality and the available content.

http://about.jstor.org/rr