Researcher illegally shares millions science papers online

[An Enforcer]

http://sci-hub.io/

https://archive.is/phKf4

A researcher in Russia has made more than 48 million journal articles - almost every single peer-reviewed paper every published - freely available online. And she's now refusing to shut the site down, despite a court injunction and a lawsuit from Elsevier, one of the world's biggest publishers.

For those of you who aren't already using it, the site in question is Sci-Hub, and it's sort of like a Pirate Bay of the science world. It was established in 2011 by neuroscientist Alexandra Elbakyan, who was frustrated that she couldn't afford to access the articles needed for her research, and it's since gone viral, with hundreds of thousands of papers being downloaded daily. But at the end of last year, the site was ordered to be taken down by a New York district court - a ruling that Elbakyan has decided to fight, triggering a debate over who really owns science.

"Payment of $32 is just insane when you need to skim or read tens or hundreds of these papers to do research. I obtained these papers by pirating them," Elbakyan told Torrent Freak last year. "Everyone should have access to knowledge regardless of their income or affiliation. And that’s absolutely legal."

journal subscriptions have become so expensive that leading universities such as Harvard and Cornell have admitted they can no longer afford them. Researchers have also taken a stand - with 15,000 scientists vowing to boycott publisher Elsevier in part for its excessive paywall fees.

"They feel pressured to do this," Elbakyan wrote in an open letter to the New York judge last year. "If a researcher wants to be recognised, make a career - he or she needs to have publications in such journals."

The site works in two stages. First of all when you search for a paper, Sci-Hub tries to immediately download it from fellow pirate database LibGen. If that doesn't work, Sci-Hub is able to bypass journal paywalls thanks to a range of access keys that have been donated by anonymous academics (thank you, science spies).

This means that Sci-Hub can instantly access any paper published by the big guys, including JSTOR, Springer, Sage, and Elsevier, and deliver it to you for free within seconds. The site then automatically sends a copy of that paper to LibGen, to help share the love.

Last year, a New York court delivered an injunction against Sci-Hub, making its domain unavailable (something Elbakyan dodged by switching to a new location), and the site is also being sued by Elsevier for "irreparable harm" - a case that experts are predicting will win Elsevier around $750 to $150,000 for each pirated article. Even at the lowest estimations, that would quickly add up to millions in damages.

But Elbakyan is not only standing her ground, she's come out swinging, claiming that it's Elsevier that have the illegal business model.

"I think Elsevier’s business model is itself illegal," she told Torrent Freak, referring to article 27 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, which states that "everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits".

She also explains that the academic publishing situation is different to the music or film industry, where pirating is ripping off creators. "All papers on their website are written by researchers, and researchers do not receive money from what Elsevier collects. That is very different from the music or movie industry, where creators receive money from each copy sold," she said.

Elbakyan hopes that the lawsuit will set a precedent, and make it very clear to the scientific world either way who owns their ideas.

"If Elsevier manages to shut down our projects or force them into the darknet, that will demonstrate an important idea: that the public does not have the right to knowledge," she said. "We have to win over Elsevier and other publishers and show that what these commercial companies are doing is fundamentally wrong."

To be fair, Elbakyan is somewhat protected by the fact that she's in Russia and doesn't have any US assets, so even if Elsevier wins their lawsuit, it's going to be pretty hard for them to get the money.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXr-2hwTk58

[Diopolis]

Interesting. What's your opinion OP?
This would never have happened in the good old days when knowledge was under the control of guilds and monasteries. It was available to people who needed it, while still protecting trade secrets and the like.

[The Serbian Empire]

I wonder what will Putin do about her?

[Galloism]

I wonder what will Putin do about her?

Preside over a marriage between her and Snowden, declaring:

"What Soviet Mother Russia has yoked together, may no western imperialist pig-dog put apart."

[The Serbian Empire]

I wonder what will Putin do about her?

Preside over a marriage between her and Snowden, declaring:

"What Soviet Mother Russia has yoked together, may no western imperialist pig-dog put apart."

I hope this happens! They're a match made in heaven!

[Dumb Ideologies]

I wonder what will Putin do about her?

One of the best things about Russia is its piracy sources. Depends whether Putin can allow himself to let something good be in his country.

[The Serbian Empire]

I wonder what will Putin do about her?

One of the best things about Russia is its piracy sources. Depends whether Putin can allow himself to let something good be in his country.

And Russia is the leading source of scurvy in the world!

[Frank Zipper]

Good. Scientific knowledge should be shared freely.

[Dumb Ideologies]

One of the best things about Russia is its piracy sources. Depends whether Putin can allow himself to let something good be in his country.

And Russia is the leading source of scurvy in the world!

Scurvy and dashcam videos. What a country.

[Iransahar]

Preside over a marriage between her and Snowden, declaring:

"What Soviet Mother Russia has yoked together, may no western imperialist pig-dog put apart."

I hope this happens! They're a match made in heaven!

Yes! It's so perfect!

[The Serbian Empire]

And Russia is the leading source of scurvy in the world!

Scurvy and dashcam videos. What a country.

Don't forget the fondness for squatting while wearing Adidas and drinking vodka!

[Iransahar]

Scurvy and dashcam videos. What a country.

Don't forget the fondness for squatting while wearing Adidas and drinking vodka!

Da

[Ostroeuropa]

The idea of secret scientific knowledge should be anathema to mankind.

[BPSR]

Net neutrality at its finest. F**k the corps.

[Ifreann]

Net neutrality at its finest. F**k the corps.

Pretty sure this has no relation to net neutrality at all.

[Ethel mermania]

As quite a bit of research is at least partially funded by public dollars, copyright ownership becomes an interesting question. I have some sympathy to the thought that publicly funded research should not be copyrightable or eligible for patent protection, whereas completely privately funded research should nlbe.

[Bryttanica]

Ultimately I agree with her stance, Education is a Right, Not a Privileged. It's Disgusting that a company would act like they are the victims while they charge everyone from Universities to Scientists up the wall with how much they need to pay for some Science Papers, Though that could be my Bias against most Corporations talking.

[Hydesland]

It's Disgusting that a company would act like they are the victims while they charge everyone from Universities to Scientists up the wall with how much they need to pay for some Science Papers, Though that could be my Bias against most Corporations talking.

Research isn't free, someone has to pay for it, and not all can rely on donations/grants.

Also I don't know the current situation that well, but having attended 2 universities, while I was doing research I never had trouble accessing the papers that I need using my university login, or accessing from the library computer if necessary. So I question how 'necessary' this website really is.

[Frank Zipper]

It's Disgusting that a company would act like they are the victims while they charge everyone from Universities to Scientists up the wall with how much they need to pay for some Science Papers, Though that could be my Bias against most Corporations talking.

Research isn't free, someone has to pay for it, and not all can rely on donations/grants.

Also I don't know the current situation that well, but having attended 2 universities, while I was doing research I never had trouble accessing the papers that I need using my university login, or accessing from the library computer if necessary. So I question how 'necessary' this website really is.

The university libraries will have paid a substantial amount of money to give you that access. Schools generally cannot afford the costs.

[Seangoli]

While I'm normally firmly against Piracy, I will say that I can certainly see the justification for this one. I'm actually not certain on where the IP rights for published journals actually lie, as well as the ethical implications involved with putting scientific research behind a pay-wall that is honestly beyond the ability of most everyone to purchase (Seriously; it can cost $30 for a single *article*; and subscriptions to these things are obscenely expensive). Couple this with the fact that much of this research is publicly funded, and I honestly do find a great deal of merit to this. I question whether Elsevier actually has the right to sue in court on this; from purely a legal standpoint, the IP rights of the research would seem to belong to the researchers, and I'm uncertain if they sign over said rights on publication. Then you get into the murky waters of the fact about whether this should be public domain or not, particularly given where the funding for said research comes from.

I'd be curious to see someone with a bit more knowledge on this would say. Anybody have experience publishing a journal, and know if IP rights are signed over to the publishers?

[Hydesland]

The university libraries will have paid a substantial amount of money to give you that access.

Obviously, that's my point. I've never heard of a university going bankrupt due to journal subscription fees.

Schools generally cannot afford the costs.

Schools? As in pre-university? Why would schoolkids need access? Or are you referring to universities, in which case they've apparently had no trouble affording the costs for decades.

[Seangoli]

It's Disgusting that a company would act like they are the victims while they charge everyone from Universities to Scientists up the wall with how much they need to pay for some Science Papers, Though that could be my Bias against most Corporations talking.

Research isn't free, someone has to pay for it, and not all can rely on donations/grants.

Also I don't know the current situation that well, but having attended 2 universities, while I was doing research I never had trouble accessing the papers that I need using my university login, or accessing from the library computer if necessary. So I question how 'necessary' this website really is.

It depends heavily on your field, your university, and the services used. In Archaeology, I had free access to certain online libraries, but not others. Plains Anthropologist journals would often only be available up to the early 2000's at best, which is useful but when you need to get more recent research can be annoying. Other journals weren't even available at all to the Uni for various reasons.

[Frank Zipper]

The university libraries will have paid a substantial amount of money to give you that access.

Obviously, that's my point. I've never heard of a university going bankrupt due to journal subscription fees.

Schools generally cannot afford the costs.

Schools? As in pre-university? Why would schoolkids need access? Or are you referring to universities, in which case they've apparently had no trouble affording the costs for decades.

No I mean schools.

I would rather live in a world where school children can access scientific research rather than one where they can't.

[Diopolis]

While I'm normally firmly against Piracy, I will say that I can certainly see the justification for this one. I'm actually not certain on where the IP rights for published journals actually lie, as well as the ethical implications involved with putting scientific research behind a pay-wall that is honestly beyond the ability of most everyone to purchase (Seriously; it can cost $30 for a single *article*; and subscriptions to these things are obscenely expensive). Couple this with the fact that much of this research is publicly funded, and I honestly do find a great deal of merit to this. I question whether Elsevier actually has the right to sue in court on this; from purely a legal standpoint, the IP rights of the research would seem to belong to the researchers, and I'm uncertain if they sign over said rights on publication. Then you get into the murky waters of the fact about whether this should be public domain or not, particularly given where the funding for said research comes from.

I'd be curious to see someone with a bit more knowledge on this would say. Anybody have experience publishing a journal, and know if IP rights are signed over to the publishers?

*Performs ritual to summon Arch*

[Hydesland]

Obviously, that's my point. I've never heard of a university going bankrupt due to journal subscription fees.



Schools? As in pre-university? Why would schoolkids need access? Or are you referring to universities, in which case they've apparently had no trouble affording the costs for decades.

No I mean schools.

I would rather live in a world where school children can access scientific research rather than one where they can't.

Journal articles are written for other scientists, not school children who overwhelmingly would not be able to understand it.