Subscriber Access to the Full Text of Science News Articles

Special Note to Windows XP Users:

Subscribers who previously experienced problems using Internet Explorer to access our Web site will be happy to know that the previous incompatibility between Service Pack 2 for Windows XP and our "Subscriber Login" process has been resolved. If you are still experiencing problems in logging in to the site using Internet Explorer, and the additional suggestions given below do not resolve the problem, please let us know promptly.

We still recommend Mozilla Firefox as the best browser for viewing Science News Online. It is the one we use almost exclusively to update, publish and check the pages that appear on this Web site, and has been recommended by numerous technology experts as an improvement/replacement for Internet Explorer. It is available, FREE, at www.mozilla.org.

Special Note to Macintosh Users: If you are a Mac user who is still using Microsoft's version of Internet Explorer (IE) intended for Macintosh systems, you may find that IE is no longer compatible with the "Subscriber Login" feature of Science News Online. Because Microsoft has ceased all technical support for the Mac version of IE, we have been unable to resolve this matter at our end. Instead, we offer the following suggestions:

• Subscribers with Mac OS X: Use the "Safari" Web browser which was introduced by Apple to be compatible with OS X, OR download the Mozilla Firefox browser compatible with your operating system (available, free, at www.mozilla.org). There are no known issues with either of these browsers in accessing Science News Online.
• Subscribers with older Mac systems: The Safari browser is apparently not compatible with older Mac systems prior to OS X. If you are unable to upgrade your system to OS X, you should be able to download an older version of the Mozilla browser (aka Netscape) at www.mozilla.org. Both the Mozilla and Netscape browsers work with our Subscriber Login.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can register for online access to the full text of Science News articles?

Any current subscriber to the print edition of Science News can register for free online access to the full text of all articles in each week's edition of the magazine. If you have a subscription, all you need is the account number from the mailing label on a copy of the magazine mailed to you.

Which Science News articles are available online?

Registered subscribers have free online access to all articles published in Science News from Jan. 1, 2000, to this week's issue. Subscribers also have access to an archive of Science News articles, from 1995 to 2000, in pdf format (go to http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/archives/index.asp#pdf).

How do I register?

Click on the blue "Sign In" button at the left-hand side of the Science News home page. That should take you to a secure page at Kable News (www.kable.com), the company that maintains the Science News subscriber database.

Check off the box beside "I am a subscriber and wish to either create or change my user name and password once validated." Enter the first 15 characters of your 16-character account number, as given on the mailing label on your copy of Science News, in the space provided. The 16th character is a check digit and does not have to be included. (Special Note: All account numbers follow the format NNNNNAAANNNAANN, where "N" represents a numeric character and "A" represents an alphabetic character. Also see the sample label, shown in the middle of the "sign in" page.) Click the "Submit" button.

You should now be at a www.kable.com page allowing you to type in a username and password. Once your choices are accepted, you are redirected to the Science News home page or the page at Science News Online from which you signed in.

Why do I see a security alert after I sign in and before I return to Science News Online?

The warning that "you are about to be redirected to a connection that is not secure" simply means that, unlike the validation page at Kable News (www.kable.com), the pages at Science News Online are not encrypted for security. Such security is not needed because Science News Online handles no transactions and its database contains no sensitive or personal information.

Please note: You must answer this alert in the affirmative (click "Yes," "OK," or "Continue," depending on your browser) in order to complete the sign in process and be returned to Science News Online with access to all articles.

How can I tell if I have successfully signed in?

Upon your return to Science News Online, the "Sign In" button should no longer be present in the "Subscriber Login" box. Instead you should see "Logged in at:" followed by the time of day and a "Sign Out" button.

When you go to any table of contents page, you should also see links to the full text for every article published that week.

I have signed in, but I don't have access to all the articles, and the "Subscriber Login" box still has a "Sign In" button. Why?

First, make sure you are viewing the "freshest" version of the Web page in question and not the one already stored in your browser's file of previously viewed Internet pages. To do so, click the "Refresh" or "Reload" button. If that produces no change, try doing a "hard" refresh by holding down the "Shift" key while clicking "Refresh." This action bypasses your browser's Internet cache and any cache files at your Internet Service Provider's server and loads the most recent version of that page. If you still do not have access, your browser may be set to reject cookies, as noted below.

We use a temporary cookie (session ID) to signal that you have access to the full text of all articles after signing in. If your browser or Internet security software is set to reject cookies, you will not have access to the full text of all articles.

You may need to change your browser and/or internet security software settings to allow the use of cookies or to make an exception for www.sciencenews.org and/or www.kable.com. In some cases you may need to temporarily disable or turn off some types of pop-up blockers or security software long enough for our session id to be placed in your browser's cookie file. For example, in Norton Internet Security 2003, in the directory Options/Internet Security/Web Content, add www.sciencenews.org to the list of "Global Settings" (de-select defaults and permit all options). In Norton Internet Security 2005 and Norton Personal Firewall 2005, however, adding www.sciencenews.org to the Global Settings file has no apparent effect, and it is necessary to disable the internet security feature temporarily in order to sign in successfully.

If you have multiple layers of protection on your computer (a firewall, plus internet security software, plus high-security settings on your browser, for instance) you may need to change the settings on, or temporarily disable each program before your computer will accept our session ID.

The temporary cookie should disappear as soon as you sign out or close your browser.

Why do you use cookies?

We use cookies as the simplest way to provide access so that subscribers don't have to sign in separately for each article they want to see. We have been posting articles at Science News Online since April 1996. In the time since June 2001, when we started offering subscribers access to the full text of all our articles, we haven't had the resources to rebuild the entire site and modify all its pages to provide an alternative method of access.

How do I gain access to the Science News 1995-2000 pdf archive?

Go to the archive page. Find the listing for "Science News PDF Archive (1995-2000)" halfway down the page. Click on the "Sign In" button. Once you have signed in and been returned to the archive page, click on the logo at the left or the word "Access" in the pdf archive description.

For additional help, please contact Science News Online at sciweb@sciencenews.org, or call (202)785-2255. So that we may offer advice specific to your situation, please provide us with a detailed description of the problem you are experiencing, including your computer operating system and version, web browser used, firewall and/or internet security software installed, as well as any error messages or dialog boxes you are seeing.