Frequently Asked Questions

Below are the most frequently asked questions about Project MUSE. If you cannot find the answer to your question here, please contact Project MUSE Customer Support. If your question is related to access or another technical issue and is not otherwise addressed in the questions and answers below, please contact MUSE using the Request Technical Help form.

Subscriptions and Access

Subscription Terms of License

Policies

Tools & Resources

Linking & Other Technical Information

Subscriptions and Access

Q. How do users get access to the MUSE journals online?

On-campus access is primarily by IP (Internet Protocol) address. A library or institution subscribing to MUSE provides the institution's range(s) of IP addresses with the subscription order. MUSE also permits access by referring URL.

Off-campus access is validated through subscribing institutions. A user must be affiliated with a subscribing institution in order to access full-text articles in MUSE from off-campus. Users might login to MUSE through their library or institution's website or through a 'proxy' server. Another way for the user to authenticate is to use his/her institutional login prior to accessing the full text articles in MUSE. MUSE supports authentication through the single sign-on methods provided by Shibboleth and Athens.

To login, a user selects his/her institution from the list of institutions registered to access MUSE through Shibboleth. If their institution is not listed, they should refer to their librarian for assistance. Athens users will follow the link for Athens login.

Shibboleth is available only for institutional subscribers, and it can be used to access MUSE collections as well as single titles on the MUSE platform. Athens is available for institutional subscribers to Project MUSE collections only, but not for institutions that only subscribe to single titles.

A subscribing library can request access by referring URL, Shibboleth, or Athens when placing a subscription order or by sending a request to MUSE Customer Support.

Q. Who is allowed access to Project MUSE if we subscribe?

Authorized users are defined as faculty, staff, students, alumni and library patrons of the subscribing institution. Distance learners, alumni, and other off-campus affiliates may access Project MUSE if their Internet access is through the campus network. Subscribing institutions are expected to enable access only to those people who are authorized users of the campus network.

Subscription Terms of License

Q. What are the permitted uses of Project MUSE?

Please review the Project MUSE Institutional Subscriber Licensing Agreement for complete details on permitted and not permitted uses of MUSE online journals.

Q. Is interlibrary loan allowed?

Facsimile images that are exact representations of the print journal pages or of printouts from the electronic database may be provided for interlibrary loan under CONTU guidelines and distributed in paper, fax, or digital form.

Q. Are the URLs for the articles in Project MUSE stable? Can we link directly to the article?

All article-level URLs in MUSE are stable, and adhere to a standard format.

MUSE encourages librarians and faculty members at subscribing institutions to link directly to MUSE articles from electronic reserves and online class syllabi. No special permission is required to link. Be sure to verify the link from the MUSE site.

Q. Can Project MUSE articles be used in course packs? May I include them in my e-reserve?

Project MUSE articles may be included in course packs and in electronic reserve only through a link to the article. The articles themselves may not be placed on electronic reserve or used in course packs. No special permission is required to link. Refer to the previous question about linking to MUSE article URLs.

Q. Is it permissible for MUSE articles to be included in institutional repositories?

MUSE owns the MUSE-generated PDF articles and they may not be used in repositories. The author of an article included online in MUSE should consult his/her agreement with the journal publisher to determine whether the publisher allows a copy of the article to be included in a repository. If both the author and the publisher have provided permission for deposit in a repository, they must provide their own electronic file. MUSE owns the MUSE copy and permission is not granted for the MUSE version in repositories

Policies

Q. Are the paper and digital articles the same?

Project MUSE digitizes scholarly journals, most of which have been published in paper form for many years. The "edition of record" of these journals is still the paper form, the digital version being enriched with hypertext but otherwise not altered in any way. All content from the print edition is included in the online edition, with the exception of advertisements. If there is a correction made or an errata to announce, we always flag those changes. Occasionally, an audio or video element may be offered in the online version as supplementary material to an article. In a case such as this, the availability of the supplementary material and its URL will be noted in the print article. Presently, there are four electronic-only journals in MUSE: Advertising and Society Review, Postmodern Culture, Theory & Event, and Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History.

Q. Are all MUSE journals peer-reviewed? How is content selected?

All journals participating in Project MUSE are peer-reviewed, scholarly titles. The basic criteria for participation in MUSE are that the journal must be peer-reviewed, be published by a not-for-profit press or scholarly society, and be a sensible fit with titles in the humanities, the social sciences and the arts. Project MUSE has a formal collection development policy for the selection of new titles, an overview of which may be found here. Surveys of subscribing libraries regarding subject areas for which they desire more online periodical content are also taken into consideration, as are specific title suggestions from participants and users. Publishers wishing to have their journal considered for participation in MUSE can use our online submission form. If you would like to recommend a title for MUSE, please first review the Collection Development Policy overview, and then use our Recommendation form.

Q. What is MUSE's status regarding accessibility and Section 508 compliance?

Project MUSE is committed to being available to all individuals and continually works to improve access for people with disabilities. Please check our Accessibility and "Section 508" page for the latest information.

Q. What does "archive only" mean when it appears after a journal title?

The phrase "archive only" means that the journal no longer contributes new issues to MUSE. There are a number of different reasons for a journal to stop contributing new issues to MUSE. For example the title might have ceased publication, it might have been acquired by a commercial publisher or a publisher that does not participate in MUSE, or the publisher might have other reasons for choosing not to have that journal participate in Project MUSE any longer. Even though a journal does not contribute new issues to MUSE all previously launched issues of that journal will remain online and accessible to subscribers. Please also see our Archiving and Preservation policy for further information.

Q. How is Project MUSE addressing the issues of archiving and permanent preservation?

Please see the Archiving and Preservation page.

Tools & Resources

Q. Does MUSE provide usage statistics?

Project MUSE provides usage statistics for publishers, institutions, and consortia with a paid subscription to a MUSE collection. Usage statistics are not available for single title subscriptions or for free trial access.

Librarians and consortium administrators may easily view their usage statistics online.

An institutional login and password is required to access that institution's usage statistics. Contact MUSE Customer Support to request a login and password if your institution does not have one already. Institutions may access their usage statistics tool at any time of day, seven days a week. Monthly usage reports are made available on the 15th of the following month, in both Excel and XML formats.

Per the COUNTER Code of Practice (www.projectcounter.org), MUSE usage statistics provide data on the total number of searches and sessions as well as number of full-text article and table of contents hits by journal. MUSE has passed a formal audit and is compliant with Release 2 of the COUNTER Code of Practice for Journals and Databases.

Q. Can users search for JSTOR articles in MUSE for titles JSTOR and MUSE have in common?

From the advanced search page, select the ‘Include JSTOR back issues' option to add JSTOR citations to your search. JSTOR and MUSE have almost 60 titles in common, but only about 25 titles are available for the JSTOR search feature. The JSTOR citation information has been loaded locally into the MUSE search engine, so you will not be searching full-text or LC Subject for JSTOR articles, only authors, titles, and abstracts. Your search, however, will still include all the available fields for MUSE articles. For more information, including a list of the journals included, read about Links to JSTOR Back Issues.

Q. Does Project MUSE supply MARC catalog records or other tools to help catalogers?

Yes, Project MUSE supplies catalog record sets in MARC21 format for each of the six MUSE journal collections. The records are full level description and include Library of Congress (LC) subject headings. The records reflect journals launched as of the beginning of the subscription year. Updates to the records will be added periodically as new journals are launched during the subscription year. You may download the records from the MUSE MARC Records Request page.

Q. Can you notify me about new journal issues in MUSE?

Our Journal Alert service provides both announcements of new titles launched in MUSE and new journal issues released. Subscribe to alerts for particular journals, subjects, or collections. Alerts are available as RSS feeds and as weekly e-mail announcements. To view a list of available RSS feeds and for more information about subscribing see Project MUSE RSS Feeds.

Our Journal Alerts service allows you to receive weekly e-mail announcements of new titles launched in MUSE and/or new journal issues released each week for particular journals, subjects, or collections. To sign up for weekly e-mail announcements see our Journal Alert Service.

Q. Does MUSE offer RSS feeds?

MUSE offers several RSS feeds. The feeds provide subscribers with information about new journals and new issues of journals as they become available in MUSE. To view a list of available RSS feeds and for more information about subscribing see Project MUSE RSS Feeds.

Q. Does MUSE provide instructional or promotional materials for libraries?

Yes. Among the resources that MUSE supplies are online and downloadable PDF instructional guides, as well as suggestions for encouraging MUSE use on your campus. MUSE also offers free materials such as posters, keyboard calendars, subject-based postcards to distribute to campus user groups, and copies of MUSE News, which libraries can order using the Request Promotional Materials form. See the Librarians page for links to these and other resources.

Q. Where does my institution name display on the MUSE site, and can I change it?

The institution name displays on all pages on the MUSE site, at the top of each page. We detect the institution providing access via IP address.

The institution name does not display on pages that are freely available for viewing by the public and where we do not detect the IP address of the institution providing access.

If you would like to change the way your institution's name displays on the MUSE site, please contact MUSE Customer Support, indicating how your institution name currently displays and specifying how you would like the name to display.

Linking & Other Technical Information

Q. How can I set up Project MUSE as an OpenURL target?

In order to link to Project MUSE as a target, set your software to link to the following URL, followed by an OpenURL-compliant query string:

http://muse.jhu.edu/cgi-bin/resolve_openurl.cgi

Any OpenURL 0.1 or 1.0 compliant string should work. Project MUSE's software will take the data given in the OpenURL and resolve it. The more complete the data contained in the OpenURL, the better able MUSE will be to resolve at the article level. Depending on the amount of data contained in the OpenURL, MUSE may return issue or journal records.

If you are having problems using our OpenURL resolver, please Request Technical Help.

Q. How can I set up OpenURL links for article citations retrieved in Project MUSE?

You will need to set up OpenURL links for article citations retrieved in Project MUSE searches for journals to which your institution does not subscribe. The institution-supplied link will appear on the turnaway page in MUSE and point the user to alternative resources for the articles. To set up links to your OpenURL compliant linking server for the alternative resources, complete the information requested on our Enable OpenURL Links form. Your request will be processed in two business days. Please note that MUSE supports versions 0.1 and 1.0 of OpenURL.

Q. How can I set up OpenURL links in place of MUSE's links to JSTOR in the MUSE search engine? How do I verify if the links are working?

You can set up OpenURL links to JSTOR articles by using our Enable OpenURL Links form. Your request will be processed in two business days. In order to check if the links are working, go to the advanced search, select to include JSTOR articles in your search and to sort by date, earliest first. Enter a search likely to retrieve JSTOR articles, which, if retrieved, will be at the top of your results.

Q. Do I need an id and password for the MUSE search engine when setting up federated searching (e.g., with Serials Solutions' Central Search product)?

No, there are no access restrictions on the Project MUSE search engine. It is therefore freely available to search to anyone with or without a subscription. The only area of the MUSE site that requires a subscription is viewing the full-text of articles. No id and password is needed, therefore, to set up federated searching. MUSE can be searched with a variety of federated search products including Serials Solutions' Central Search, and WebFeat. MUSE now also supports any product compliant with the Z39.50 protocol for Information Retrieval.

Q. What is a referring URL?

A referring URL is sent in the header of an HTTP request. When referring URL is used as a method of authentication, authenticated users connect from a referring page, to which only they have access, to a licensed resource. The provider of the licensed resource recognizes the referring URL from the HTTP request and allows the user access to the resource.

Q. How can my library gain online access to Project MUSE through EZproxy?

Many subscribers have successfully implemented the protocol by using a configuration similar to the following:

T Project MUSE
U http://muse.jhu.edu
DJ muse.jhu.edu
DJ muse.uq.edu.au

If you are having problems configuring EZproxy, we suggest using the support materials from the Useful Utilities (http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/ezproxy/ ) web site.

Q. Is Project MUSE compliant with the Z39.50 protocol for Information Retrieval?

Yes. The Z39.50 protocol for Information Retrieval provides another way for users to search and locate articles in MUSE using a Z39.50 compatible client. An institution must maintain a Project MUSE subscription in order to access the full text articles.

Q. How do I set up the connection to the MUSE Z39.50 gateway?

An ID and password are not required to set up the connection to the MUSE Z39.50 gateway. The following configuration details will allow for the connection:

Host: z3950.muse.jhu.edu or z3950.muse.uq.edu.au
Port: 210
Database: MUSE
Functions: Init, Search, Present, Fetch, Scan
Record Formats: USMARC, SUTRS
Search Attributes:
any - 1016
author - 1003
year - 31
title - 4
issn - 8
subject - 21
The 1016 search attribute includes the article full text.

MUSE offers the following functionalities:
Boolean operators (and/or/not)
Phrasing
Right truncation ("wildcarding")

The Z39.50 searches are not limited to the collection subscribed to by the institution; searches will search the entire MUSE database. Access to the full text articles will be based on the Project MUSE subscription maintained by the institution. Please use our online form to Request Technical Help. We welcome your questions and comments.

Q. How do I use the MUSE RSS feed when authenticating through a proxy server?

You do not have to authenticate through a proxy server in order to subscribe to the RSS feeds. To subscribe to the MUSE feeds, simply copy and paste the URL for the feed into your RSS aggregator and subscribe.

However, to view the full text articles from the links in the Table of Contents displayed in the MUSE RSS feed, you will have to authenticate via the proxy server. Subscribers using a proxy server have been successful accessing the full text by doing the following:

1. Subscribe to the feed
2. Log into the institution's proxy server
3. Find out the domain name of the institution's proxy server (i.e. http://proxy.xxx.edu)
4. Copy and paste the Project MUSE URL linked to from the Project MUSE feed (beginning with '/journals/...') to the end of the proxy server address.
5. Copy and paste this new URL into the location bar of the web browser and press Enter. Example: if trying to access the full text in http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/arethusa/v077/77.1hines.html, then the new copied and pasted URL would be: http://proxy.xxx.edu/journals/arethusa/v077/77.1hines.html

Q. Does MUSE support OAI (Open Archives Initiative)?

Yes. The OAI protocol is another way for institutions to facilitate access to articles in MUSE. An institution may request metadata from MUSE using an OAI command. MUSE will respond to the request by generating and serving XML documents. Based on the type of command sent from an institution, MUSE will supply data such as version of OAI supported (2.0), metadata formats supported (Dublin Core), listing of all journals in MUSE, and articles pertinent to the request.

The OAI base URL for Project MUSE is: http://muse.jhu.edu/oai. For requests made through the MUSE Australia server, the OAI base URL is: http://muse.uq.edu.au/oai.

As OAI in MUSE is still in beta, we welcome your comments and questions. Please use our online form to Request Technical Help.

Q. Does MUSE offer a search plugin for web browsers?

Yes, MUSE offers a search plugin that allows you to search Project MUSE directly from your browser. The Project MUSE search plugin adds MUSE to the list of search engines available in the search box in the upper right corner of your browser. The MUSE search plugin can be added to any browser that supports Sherlock and OpenSearch Search Engine Plugins. When using the search plugin, the search results will default to searching the entire MUSE collection of journals. To read about and install the search plugin, go to the Project MUSE Search Plugin page.

Comments or Questions

Please contact Project MUSE Customer Support with any comments or questions concerning Project MUSE. We want to hear from you!