JSTOR facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
JSTOR

Type of site	Digital library
Available in	English (includes content in other languages)
Owner	Ithaka Harbors, Inc.
Created by	Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Founder(s)	William G. Bowen
Registration	Yes
Launched	1994; 31 years ago (1994)
Current status	Active
OCLC number	46609535

JSTOR (say "JAY-stor") is a huge online library. It holds academic journals, books, and original documents. It started in 1994.

JSTOR first stored old issues of academic journals. Now, it also has books, other original sources, and new journal issues. It focuses on subjects like history, literature, and social studies. You can search almost 2,000 journals for specific words. Most of JSTOR needs a paid subscription. However, some parts are free to everyone.

How JSTOR Started

The Idea Behind JSTOR

William G. Bowen, who used to be the president of Princeton University, started JSTOR in 1994. He wanted to solve a big problem for libraries. Libraries, especially those at universities, found it very hard to keep all the new academic journals. They cost a lot of money and took up too much space.

JSTOR helped by turning these journals into digital files. This meant libraries didn't need to store physical copies. They could trust that the journals would always be available online. Being online also made it much easier to find information quickly.

Early Steps and Growth

At first, Mr. Bowen thought about using CD-ROMs to share the information. But Ira Fuchs, an expert at Princeton, suggested using the internet instead. He explained that the internet would be better for sharing and accessing information.

JSTOR began in 1995 at seven different libraries. It started with ten journals about economics and history. People gave feedback, and JSTOR improved its access. Soon, you could search the entire collection using any regular web browser. Special software was added to make pictures and graphs look clear.

Expanding the Collection

After this early success, Bowen, Fuchs, and Kevin Guthrie (JSTOR's president) wanted to add more journals. They worked with the Royal Society of London. They agreed to digitize the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, which dates back to 1665! This huge task was finished by December 2000.

In 1999, JSTOR partnered with the Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc). They created a copy of the JSTOR database at the University of Manchester. This made JSTOR available to over 20 universities in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Becoming a Nonprofit

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation provided the first money for JSTOR. Until 2009, JSTOR was its own independent nonprofit group. It had offices in New York City and Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Then, JSTOR joined with another nonprofit called Ithaka Harbors, Inc.. This group helps schools and universities use new technology. In 2019, JSTOR made $79 million.

What You Can Find on JSTOR

A World of Information

More than 900 publishers provide content to JSTOR. The database has over 12 million journal articles. These articles cover more than 75 different subjects. Each item has a unique number that helps create a stable web address for it.

Tools for Researchers

JSTOR also has a special service called Data for Research. This allows people to study the text of articles. It helps them analyze how words are used over time. You can create groups of articles and then get data about word frequencies. This data can be downloaded in different formats.

Focus on Plant Science

There's a special part of JSTOR called JSTOR Plant Science. It offers access to plant specimens, scientific papers, and related materials. This section is for anyone studying botany, biology, or environmental science. The Global Plants Initiative (GPI) helps add materials to this part of JSTOR.

Books and News

In 2012, JSTOR launched "Books at JSTOR." It added 15,000 books to its site. These books are connected to reviews and citations in journal articles.

In 2014, JSTOR started JSTOR Daily. This is an online magazine that shares academic research with a wider audience. Its articles often explain the background of current events using JSTOR's content.

Hidden Histories: Reveal Digital

Reveal Digital is a collection hosted by JSTOR. It contains documents from groups that were often overlooked in the 20th century. This includes things like zines (small, self-published magazines), prison newspapers, and materials about civil rights. This content is free to access.

How to Get Access

Who Can Use JSTOR?

JSTOR is mainly used by universities, public libraries, research groups, museums, and schools. Over 7,000 institutions in more than 150 countries have access. JSTOR also has a program that lets subscribing institutions give access to their former students. This program officially started in 2013. You can also buy individual subscriptions to some journals directly from the publisher.

JSTOR blocks many attempts by people without subscriptions to read articles.

Discussions About Free Access

Some people have asked if JSTOR could be made free for everyone. A professor from Harvard Law mentioned that JSTOR was asked how much it would cost to make its content available worldwide.

The Aaron Swartz Story and Its Impact

In 2010 and 2011, a computer programmer named Aaron Swartz downloaded a very large number of articles from JSTOR. He used the internet network at MIT. When JSTOR found out, they stopped the download. JSTOR and Swartz reached an agreement where he returned the data.

Later, government officials charged Swartz with several crimes related to data theft. They said he planned to share the papers online. The case was still ongoing when Swartz passed away in 2013.

This event led to more discussions about making academic research more open and available to everyone.

What Are the Limitations?

Most journals on JSTOR have a "moving wall." This means there's a delay between the newest issue of a journal and the latest one available on JSTOR. This delay is usually three to five years. It's an agreement between JSTOR and the journal's publisher. Publishers can ask to change this delay or stop having their journals on JSTOR.

Since 2010, JSTOR has started adding current issues of some journals through its Current Scholarship Program.

Making More Content Free

On September 6, 2011, JSTOR made content that is in the public domain available for free. This "Early Journal Content" program includes over 500,000 documents. These are from more than 200 journals published before 1923 in the United States, and before 1870 in other countries. JSTOR said it had been working on this for a while.

In January 2012, JSTOR started a program called "Register & Read." This allows individuals to register and read a limited number of archived articles for free. After a trial period, in 2013, JSTOR expanded this program. Now, registered readers can read up to six articles online each month. However, they cannot print or download them.

By 2013, over 8,000 institutions in more than 160 countries had access to JSTOR.

As of 2014, JSTOR has a special program with Wikipedia. It gives experienced Wikipedia editors reading access to JSTOR, similar to a university library.

How People Use JSTOR

In 2012, people used JSTOR for almost 152 million searches. They viewed over 113 million articles and downloaded 73.5 million articles.

JSTOR is used by researchers to study how language changes over time. It's also used to look at differences in publishing between genders.

See also

In Spanish: JSTOR para niños