# Open Access Helper

> Effortless legal access to full text scholarly articles: Open Access Helper will help you identify legal open access copies of academic articles, using unpaywall.org and other sources.

Canonical page: [https://chrome-stats.com/d/open-access-helper](https://chrome-stats.com/d/open-access-helper)

## Overview

- **ID:** `open-access-helper`
- **Platform:** Firefox
- **Type:** Firefox add-on
- **Status:** Available
- **Publisher:** Open Access Helper
- **Category:** search-tools
- **Daily users:** 415
- **Weekly downloads:** 6
- **Rating:** 5.00 / 5 (1 ratings)
- **Version:** 2026.8
- **Last updated:** 2026-08-21
- **First published:** 2020-10-24
- **Size:** 429 KB
- **Data as of:** 2026-09-05
- **Store listing:** [Firefox Add-ons Store](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/open-access-helper/)
- **Website:** [https://www.oahelper.org/support](https://www.oahelper.org/support)
- **Privacy policy:** [https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/open-access-helper/privacy/](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/open-access-helper/privacy/)

## Description

Open Access Helper is a Chrome extension designed to simplify access to scholarly articles. It helps users locate legal, free-to-read versions of paywalled scientific papers by leveraging trusted APIs from unpaywall.org and core.ac.uk. Users simply browse an article, and the extension detects its DOI to find available open access versions. The extension distinguishes between "Published," "Accepted," or "Submitted" versions to inform users about the article's status. Additionally, it supports integration with university libraries using EZProxy or OpenAthens, allowing seamless off-campus access by configuring the institution's domain.

This tool ensures 100% legal access to research papers, respects user privacy by not collecting personal data, and welcomes the developer community through its open-source platform. Open Access Helper empowers students, researchers, and the curious with effortless scholarly article access, enhancing academic and scientific research workflows.

## Rankings

- #5,599 — Overall
- #7 — free access
- #18 — legal
- #64 — openvpn
- #70 — open ai
- #71 — open vpn

## Permissions and access

### Permissions

- `tabs`
- `storage`
- `contextMenus`
- `http://*/*`
- `https://*/*`
- `*://*/*`
- `https://www.oahelper.org/backend/institutes/`

### Content script matches

- `*`

## Safety

- **Risk impact:** High risk impact
- **Risk likelihood:** Moderate risk likelihood

### Analysis details

- Grants access to browser tabs, which can be used to track user browsing habits and history, presenting a privacy concern.
- This extension was recently updated in the past month. New updates may not be stable or safe.

> Some risk analysis details are omitted from this free response. [Upgrade to view the full analysis](https://chrome-stats.com/pricing).

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Source: [Chrome-Stats](https://chrome-stats.com/d/open-access-helper)