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Primo Quick Start Guide: Q&A

Questions & Answers

Why wasn't my article accessible via the full-text link?

There are various reasons an article could not be accessible, including the following:

  • Sometimes the citation is available before the full text of the article is published. 
  • The article may be withheld or placed under 'embargo' by the publisher or author.
  • If there is an error in the citation, Primo will not be able to locate and link to the article directly.

Strategies to try: 

  • Try navigating to the article using the database interface that Primo has directed you to, using a keyword or title search within that database.
  • Check if the article can be accessed via a different database name in the section “Access Full-text” in your results.
  • Typically, you also may be able to find similar, related articles you could use, in your Primo search results.

If you discover that the NU Library does not hold the article in full text and you need it for your study, you can use our ILL service to make a request.


Why do certain full-text links point to journal homepages, abstracts or Tables of Contents instead of the complete text of the specific article?

Primo is a tool that enables users to access the complete text of an article, depending on the structure of the publisher's website and their "link-to" syntax. Publishers have different policies about this; some only permit linking to the journal level, others to the Table of Contents, while others allow linking to the full-text article. Occasionally, users may need to navigate through a database or the publisher's website to find the article they're looking for.


Why does the publisher's website occasionally open with an error message after clicking on the link to the full text?

These error messages may indicate that the publisher's website contains the whole content, but the Primo-generated URL was rejected. In this scenario, you might be able to access your article by using the publisher's website.

In some cases, you may not be able to obtain the entire content because the complete text you require is no longer available at the site, but the server does not have this information.


Can't find an article or a book?

Primo is a sophisticated search engine, but you may occasionally run into some issues because some databases are not fully indexed or searchable in Primo. We recommend that you access these resources directly; see the list below:

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