The total reaction cross section σ reac is a valuable measure for the prediction of α-induced reaction cross sections within the statistical model and for the comparison of scattering of tightly bound projectiles to weakly bound and exotic projectiles. Here we provide the total reaction cross sections σ reac derived from our previously published angular distributions of elastic α-nucleus scattering on 89 Y, 92 Mo, 112,124 Sn, and 144 Sm at energies around the Coulomb barrier. The total reaction cross section σ reac is related to the complex scattering matrix S L = η L exp (2iδ L ) by the wellknown relationwhere k = √ 2µE/h is the wave number and η L and δ L are the real reflexion coefficients and scattering phase shifts. Usually, experimental elastic-scattering angular distributions are analyzed using a complex optical potential. Although there are considerable uncertainties in the extraction of the optical potential from elastic scattering at low energies around the Coulomb barrier, the underlying reflexion coefficients and phase shifts are well defined, as long as the measured angular distribution covers the full angular range from 0 • to 180 • and it is well described by the chosen optical potential. Thus, the total reaction cross section σ reac can be extracted from experimental elastic-scattering angular distributions with small uncertainties. Although the analysis uses optical potentials, that is, input from theory, in practice the obtained total reaction cross section σ reac can be considered an experimental quantity because of its insensitivity to the potential as long as the potential accurately reproduces the elastic-scattering angular distribution.A completely model-independent determination of σ reac is also possible by a direct fit of the reflexion coefficients η L and phase shifts δ L to the angular distribution. However, in practice such fits are not widely used because η L and δ L have to be determined for angular momenta up to about L = 30, that is, around 60 parameters have to be fitted simultaneously. This may lead to an oscillatory behavior of the calculated cross sections in angular regions where no experimental data are available to restrict the multiparameter model-independent fit [1]. Therefore, model-independent analyses are not the ideal tool for the determination of total reaction cross sections σ reac .It has unfortunately become a common practice in optical model analyses of elastic α-nucleus scattering data not to give σ reac explicitly, although this number is implicitly determined in any optical model calculation, as Eq. (1) shows. Nevertheless it has been noticed recently that σ reac is a very valuable quantity in several respects. First, a significantly different energy dependence of σ reac has been observed in the comparison of scattering of tightly bound projectiles like α or 16 O, weakly bound projectiles like 6,7,8 Li, and exotic projectiles with halo properties like 6 He and 11 Be (e.g., Refs. [2-5]). As a consequence, σ reac is practically always provided in analyses of 6 ...