Frequently Asked Questions

Of course you can!  Just call us at 800-333-1199 to purchase your print or digital subscription or gift subscription by phone.  International customers can call 001-515-248-7684.  Once purchased, you can use your account number to activate your digital access.  Click here for instructions.

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Please note, if you purchased a mobile subscription within the Scientific American or Scientific American Mind app, your subscription is limited to mobile issues only -  in-app subscriptions do not include print or pdf issues.  Also, Scientific American cannot cancel or change a mobile-only subscription.  You must contact the company you purchased it from for assistance.

If you purchased your subscription here at ScientificAmerican.com, your digital access was instantly activated with your purchase.  For print or digital subscribers who did not purchase their subscription on our website, you need your account number to activate online and tablet content.  If you do not have your account number, please call us at 800-333-1199, or email us.  We would be happy to provide it to you.  Your account number is found here on your mailing label (circled in red):

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If you ordered your subscription online at ScientificAmerican.com, your subscription is likely on a Continuous Service Plan. With continuous service, about 30 days before you get your final issue, you will receive notice that your subscription will be automatically renewed. If you want to renew, you don’t need to do anything. We will charge your renewal to the same card you used when you first subscribed. If you don’t wish to renew, let us know upon receipt of the reminder notice. Also, if we are unable to charge your card, we will send you an invoice for your renewal order.

If you ordered your subscription through the mail, your will receive several renewal reminder notices prior to expiration. We encourage you to take advantage of the extra savings we offer when you choose a two- or three-year subscription renewal.

And you can always call us at 800-333-1199 or email us to make any changes to your subscription.

If purchasing a gift subscription online, add the item to your cart.  Proceed to checkout, and click the box marked “Is this a gift?” found under the item in your shopping cart.  A box for the recipient’s information will pop up for your to fill out.  If you prefer to buy your gift subscription by phone, please call us to at 800-333-1199 or 001-515-248-7684.

Please advise us of your new address about 6 to 8 weeks prior to your move. You may change your address online, you can email us, or you can also call customer service at 800-333-1199 or 001-515-248-7684.

The principle difference between the various plans is the depth of archival content included. If you would enjoy having access to every article ever published in Scientific American, we encourage you to consider our All Access Plan with Full Archive.

All print+digital and digital subscription plans include online access, downloadable PDFs for the issues included in your subscription term, and access through our Mobile Edition apps. To access your digital subscription on your smartphone or tablet, download the Scientific American or Scientific American Mind App from the App Store or Google Play, and log into the app with your ScientificAmerican.com email address and password.

Please make sure that you logged on to ScientificAmerican.com. Also make sure that the issue you’re trying to download is included in your subscription plan. Different subscription plans provide different levels of access to Archive Material. Additionally, Scientific American Mind issues and articles are not included with Scientific American Digital or Print/Digital subscriptions.

Please see our Digital Users Guide for further assistance.

The Print+Tablet subscription is no longer offered, and only includes print and Mobile Edition issues.  This subscription does not include pdf issues at ScientificAmerican.com.  To upgrade your Print+Tablet subscription to a Print+Digital subscription, you can simply purchase a new Print+Digital subscription online and it will upgrade your Print+Tablet subscription immediately.

Digital-only and All Access subscriptions purchased at ScientificAmerican.com are cancellable within 5 days of the order date.

Renewal subscription orders are only cancellable within 30 days of the credit card transaction date. You will be refunded for the unused portion of the subscription. 

You can also cancel by calling us at 800-333-1199 or 001-515-248-7684.

We have several partners that republish our content in other languages.  They are published and sold independently of Scientific American.  Please click here to see the list of international editions, with links to their websites.

Scientific American and Scientific American Mind Digital subscriptions accessed at ScientificAmerican.com are intended, and priced, for individual use only. Simultaneous logins from multiple users are not supported on this website, and using this website for institutional access is a violation of our Terms of Use.

We offer an excellent institutional digital Site License, accessed and purchased through Nature.com.  Schools, colleges, universities, businesses, and government agencies requiring enterprise-wide access can email the Site License Team for more information.