Individual Subscription and Downloads
Is a subscription needed to use the SPIE Digital Library?
Anyone can search and browse the site, view abstracts, tables of contents, reference lists, and author profiles, and access content labeled "Open Access."
Additionally, users with either an institutional subscription or an individual subscription (attained via SPIE membership and/or purchase of a downloads packet) can view full-text, download PDFs, watch recordings of Conference Presentations, view figures and tables, and access multimedia such as video content and supplemental data sets.
If you do not have an institutional or individual subscription, papers, proceedings, and ebooks may be purchased individually.
If you would like to encourage your institution to subscribe to the SPIE Digital Library, we suggest submitting our Recommendation Form to your institution's library (or similar information center).
What subscription options are available to individual users?
Full access to the SPIE Digital Library is available to institutional subscribers only.* Users who are not affiliated with a subscribing institution may establish individual subscriptions in two ways:
SPIE Membership
Upon joining SPIE or renewing your membership, you automatically receive ten download tokens that may be used for any journal article or proceedings paper/presentation/poster. (Tokens cannot be used for ebooks.) You will also receive an online subscription to one of SPIE's journals of your choice. Members may also subscribe to online access to additional journals at a substantial discount.
Download Packages
Individuals may purchase a download package without a membership. Packages are available for either 50 or 25 download tokens, which are valid for one year and can be used to access any journal article or proceedings paper/presentation/poster. (Tokens cannot be used for ebooks.)
*If you would like to encourage your institution to subscribe to the SPIE Digital Library, we suggest submitting our Recommendation Form to your institution's library (or similar information center).
How many downloads are currently available in my individual subscription?
Sign in to the SPIE Digital Library, click My Account, then click Subscriptions and Downloads in order to view your subscription information and a count of available tokens for downloads.
How can I track the articles I have downloaded?
Sign in to the SPIE Digital Library, click My Account, then click Subscriptions and Downloads. Under Token Usage, you will see links to articles and proceedings to which you have established access via a token. This content may be accessed online for one year.
My personal account includes a subscription and/or download tokens, but when I try to download a PDF, I receive a purchase or login prompt.
First, please note that download tokens can only be used to access journals and proceedings content. Download tokens cannot be used for ebook content.
Next, confirm that you have an active subscription and/or available download tokens by clicking My Account at upper right, then Subscriptions & Downloads.
- If you see a subscription and/or download tokens, check the expiration date. If the expiration date is in the future but you are unable to successfully download a PDF, please contact: spiedlsupport@spie.org
- If you do not see an active subscription and/or download tokens, but you think you should, please contact: spiedlsupport@spie.org
