JSTOR vs Project MUSE
JSTOR
jstor.orgProject MUSE
muse.jhu.eduSide by side
| Figure | JSTOR | Project MUSE |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $16.58/mo | $174.58/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 7 | 6 |
| Spec score · Academic Research Databases | 8.8 (#4) | 8.6 (#6) |
| Accessibility | JSTOR states that it applies WCAG and Section 508 standards and provides accessible PDFs, image alt text and an issue-reporting workflow. | MUSE says it strives to conform to WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 at AA level, EN 301 549 V3.2.1, and Revised Section 508 specifications. |
| Documentation | The JSTOR help center provides end-user and administrator documentation, FAQs, tutorials, release notes and troubleshooting guidance. | Its resource center provides subject guides, search PDFs and videos, MyMUSE account instructions, citation guidance, and instructor materials. |
| Founded | LinkedIn lists JSTOR’s founding year as 1995. | LinkedIn lists Project MUSE as founded in 1995. |
| Mobile access | Mobile use is supported through the current native browser on iOS Safari and Android Chrome. | The FAQ says the site works on iPhone, iPad, and Android through a web browser. |
| Purpose | JSTOR is an interactive research and learning platform with primary and secondary sources across more than 70 disciplines. | Project MUSE provides scholarly books and journals in the humanities and social sciences from university presses and nonprofit scholarly publishers. |
| Search | The platform offers advanced search and discovery with filters for content type, subject and other metadata. | Simple and advanced search support facets such as content type, language, journal, date, and publisher. |
| Support | JSTOR Support accepts requests by email form, phone, and text, and says form responses typically arrive within one to two business days. | Customer support is available by email and contact form Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. |
| What it does | JSTOR is a nonprofit digital library combining peer-reviewed journals, scholarly ebooks, primary sources and millions of images. | Project MUSE is an online scholarly content platform aggregating humanities and social-science journals, books, and related research materials. |
Plans
JSTOR
- Read onlyFree
- Read onlyFree
- JPASS Monthly$19.50 a month
- JPASS Monthly$19.50 a month
- JPASS Annual$199 a year
- JPASS Yearly$199 a year
- Institutional accessPriced on request
Project MUSE
- MUSE Journal Collection trialFree
- Premium Journals Collection (school libraries)$2,095 a year
- 2027 PLUS+ Package$13,121.40 a year
- Individual articles and issuesPrice not published
- Institutional journal collectionsPriced on request
- MUSE Journal Collection subscriptionPrice not published
In their own words
JSTOR
JSTOR is a research and learning platform with scholarly and primary-source material across more than 70 disciplines. Its collection contains more than 12 million academic journal articles, millions of primary sources, ebooks, and Artstor images and multimedia. Advanced search and discovery tools help locate content. Workspace lets users save, annotate, organize, upload and share research in folders, then export it as PDFs, PowerPoints or ZIP files. A free personal account can read up to 10 eligible articles online every 30 days, though publisher policies exclude some articles. Users may connect a personal account to a subscribing institution for remote access. JPASS Monthly costs $19.50 per month and includes unlimited reading from 2,400+ academic journals and 10 PDF downloads per month. JPASS Yearly costs $199.00 per year and includes 120 PDF downloads per year. JSTOR supports mobile browsers, keyboard navigation and screen readers, and accepts requests for accessible versions of content. Its audience includes students, educators, librarians and researchers.
Project MUSE
Project MUSE provides scholarly books, journals, and other digital resources in the humanities and social sciences, from university presses and nonprofit scholarly publishers. Its catalog includes more than 800 journals and over 100,000 books from 400 publishers, along with over 6,000 open access books and more than 100 open access journals. Users can search across resources and filter by content type, language, journal, date, or publisher. Reading formats include HTML, PDF, and EPUB; EPUB files must be downloaded and opened in a compatible reader. MUSE describes subscribed and purchased content as DRM-free, with unlimited access, simultaneous use, downloading, and printing. Institutions can authenticate through IP address, Shibboleth, referring URLs, or a secure proxy. People without institutional access can use MyMUSE to save or email citations and receive content alerts, and may buy selected online articles and issues. Those individual purchases provide perpetual MyMUSE access, but sales are final. Pricing is on request, with a 45-day trial. A school-library Premium Journals Collection is listed at $2,095 a year.