LibKey integration

LibKey connects your institution's library subscriptions to BioSkepsis, so when the agent cites a paper your university licenses, you reach the full text in a single click — no paywall, no proxy juggling, no leaving the workspace.

#What LibKey is

LibKey is a service from Third Iron that routes researchers to the full text of articles their institution already subscribes to. Rather than sending you to a publisher landing page and asking you to hunt for a login, LibKey resolves an article's identifier against your library's holdings and hands back a direct link to the licensed PDF. Thousands of academic and hospital libraries worldwide participate.

BioSkepsis works across the life-science literature — 40M+ papers — and much of the highest-value primary research sits behind publisher paywalls. When you connect LibKey, the agent can turn a citation it surfaced into content you can actually read, using access your institution has already paid for.

Why this matters for the agent

The agent reasons over abstracts and open-access full text as it builds an answer. LibKey does not change what the agent reads; it changes what you can open when you want to verify a claim or read a cited paper in depth. It is a reader convenience layered on top of the agent's citations.

#Selecting your institution

LibKey is opt-in and takes three steps. You configure it once and BioSkepsis remembers the choice.

Open LibKey settings. Go to the LibKey settings page in your BioSkepsis account.
Find your institution. Search for your university, research institute, or hospital and select it from the list. The list is drawn from the libraries that participate in LibKey.
Save. Your institution preference is stored locally for future sessions, so full-text links appear automatically the next time you return.

Because the preference is stored on your device, you may need to re-select your institution if you switch browsers, clear site data, or sign in from a new machine.

#One-click institutional full text

Once an institution is set, LibKey quietly enriches the papers the agent cites and the results you browse.

Direct full-text links. Papers your institution licenses show a LibKey link pointing straight at the licensed version.
One click to the PDF. Selecting the link opens the full-text article through your institutional subscription — you land on the content, not on a paywall.
No extra login on-network. If you are on your institution's network or VPN, access is seamless because the library recognizes you automatically.

Off campus? Use your VPN

LibKey links respect the same access rules as your library website. If you are working from home, connect through your institution's VPN or its off-campus proxy first, then use the LibKey link — the publisher will recognize your entitlement just as it would on campus.

#Requirements and troubleshooting

LibKey integration is available on all plans. To use it you need two things: your institution must participate in LibKey, and you must select that institution in BioSkepsis settings. If either is missing, papers still appear in your results — you simply won't see the one-click institutional link.

#Common issues

Symptom	Likely cause and fix
My institution isn't in the list	Your library may not participate in LibKey yet. Ask your library whether they subscribe — many have added support in recent years and can activate it.
The LibKey link opens a paywall	You are likely off-network. Connect through your institution's VPN or proxy, or confirm the specific title is part of your library's current subscription.
No LibKey link on any paper	Re-open LibKey settings and confirm an institution is selected. If you recently cleared browser data or switched devices, the saved preference may have been reset.
Links worked before, now they don't	Your saved institution is stored locally; a new browser, private window, or cleared site data drops it. Re-select your institution to restore the links.

Access follows your license, not BioSkepsis

A LibKey link only unlocks content your institution actually subscribes to. If a specific journal or year isn't in your library's holdings, the link cannot grant access — that is a licensing boundary set by your library and the publisher, not a BioSkepsis limitation.

#Still stuck?

If links behave unexpectedly after confirming your institution and network, your library's electronic resources or interlibrary loan team is the best next stop — they manage the subscriptions LibKey resolves against. You can learn more about the service at Third Iron's LibKey page.

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