Kyoto University Library Network

Electronic resources such as e-journals, e-books, and databases are subject to access restrictions. Accessing a large number of resources in a short period of time may be considered a violation of the terms of use, and could result in Kyoto University's access to these resources being blocked by the provider.
→Conditions of Use and Licensing Restrictions for E-Resources

Recently, there have been frequent cases of unintentional large-scale downloads and access caused by the automatic download functions of reference management software and the "link preloading function" of web browsers.

These "automatic download" and "link preloading" functions repeatedly access electronic journals in the background, even when you are not aware of it. This can lead to a large number of downloads and accesses being made without your knowledge.

Please review the following information and check the settings and usage methods of your reference management software and web browser.

Precautions and settings for reference management software

• Paperpile

  Click the gear icon in the top right corner of the screen. Go to Settings > Storage & Sync. Uncheck the "Automatically download PDFs" box.

  Please note: If this box is checked, PDFs will be downloaded for all references, especially when "Auto-Update" is performed after migrating from another software.

  
• Zotero

  Right-click on an item in the item list and select "Find Available PDFs" to automatically download the PDF. Avoid downloading PDFs when multiple items are selected.

  
• ReadCube Papers

  Select "LOCATE PDF" from the reference list to download the PDF. Avoid selecting multiple items at once, as this may be considered a large-scale download.

  [For reference] Bulk Downloading PDFs in your Papers Library

• EndNote Click (browser extension)

  If this extension is active while searching a reference database, it may attempt to download all reference information and full-text PDFs at once, which could be considered a large-scale download. Disable this extension or, if you must use it, do not register your affiliation in the account settings and set the option to "Free PDFs only".

  
• Mendeley Web Importer (browser extension)

  This extension has a function to automatically collect reference bibliographic information and full-text PDFs from the displayed page. This could be considered a large-scale download, so disable this extension or, if you must use it, uncheck the "Add PDF if possible" box in the settings.

  

Do not use the automatic download function of any other reference management software.

How to disable the "link preloading function" in each web browser

• Microsoft Edge (Chromium version)
  1. Go to Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Manage and delete cookies and site data.
  2. Turn off "Preload pages for faster browsing and searching".
• Google Chrome

  Go to Settings > Performance. Turn off "Preload pages".

• FireFox
  1. In the URL bar, type "about:config" and press Enter.
  2. If a warning page appears stating "Proceed with Caution", click "Accept the Risk and Continue".
  3. In the search bar, search for "prefetch-next".
  4. If "network.prefetch-next" is set to "true", double-click it to change it to "false" (if it is already set to "false", do nothing).
• Safari (Mac)
  1. Open Safari > Preferences.
  2. Go to the Search tab.
  3. Uncheck the box "Preload Top Hits in the background".

Please note: The specific settings and methods for disabling the "link preloading function" may vary depending on the version of the software. Please refer to the help documentation for your software if you are unsure.

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