Frequently Asked Questions

Most changes and updates to your subscriptions can be done by signing in to My Account.  This account management page allows you to:

• Update your mailing address
• Change your payment method
• Cancel your subscription
• Renew your subscription
• Manage gift subscriptions
• Change the email address associated with your subscription(s)

For assistance, please email us.

When a gift subscription is purchased, an automated email to the gift recipient is sent out with the information needed to activate online access. If you didn't receive a gift subscription email, please email us for help.  

If you have a print subscription and never activated your digital access, go here.

Print subscribers can find their account numbers on the address label of their issues, highlighted below. It is numeric only, five to eight digits long, and does not include any letters, symbols, or leading zeroes. Therefore, if your mailing label shows SCA0001234567/0#, your account number is 1234567.  Account number highlighted in sample label below.



If you do not have an issue handy, or if you are a digital-only subscriber, you can always email us for further assistance.

You can cancel your subscription at any time by logging in to My Account. You can also email us.

You can purchase a gift subscription by going here.

Of course you can!  Just call us at 800-333-1199 to purchase a subscription for yourself or as a gift.  International customers can call 001-1-515-248-7684.

Email us if you have any questions!

Scientific American does not offer lifetime subscriptions.  Every subscription sold on our website is a one-year subscription. 

All subscriptions sold on our website will automatically renew once a year until you wish to cancel.  To manage your subscription, log in to My Account or email us.

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

Institutional Scientific American print subscriptions and Institutional License digital subscriptions are sold separately.

Call us at 800-333-1199 for institutional print pricing and to purchase institutional print subscriptions by phone.  Please note, no digital access is included with institutional print subscriptions.

Institutional digital Licenses are available from Springer Nature.  Please visit the Springer Nature page for librarians, or this FAQ for more information about the Institutional License. 

All subscriptions offered for sale on ScientificAmerican.com are for individual subscribers only, and are not offered to institutions.  Subscriptions sold on our website do not support institutional use, and purchasing a personal subscription for institutional use is a violation of our Terms of Use.

ScientificAmerican.com no longer offers single digital issues for purchase. For customers who have purchased a single digital issue in the past, and no longer have access to the download, please contact help@sciam.com for a copy of your purchase.

No problem! Email us anytime if you need more information.