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This student put 50 million stolen research articles online. And they’re free.
This student put 50 million stolen research articles online. And they’re free.
By Michael S. Rosenwald March 30 at 11:08 AM
@mikerosenwald
Alexandra Elbakyan is a highbrow pirate in hiding. ... The 27-year-old graduate student from Kazakhstan is operating a searchable online database of nearly 50 million stolen scholarly journal articles, shattering the $10 billion-per-year paywall of academic publishers.
Elbakyan has kept herself beyond the reach of a federal judge who late last year issued an injunction against her site, noting that damages could total $150,000 per article — a sum that Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis, a journal in her database, could help calculate. But she is not hiding from responsibility.
“There are many ways to argue that copyright infringement is not theft, but even if it is, it is justified in this case,” she said in an instant-message interview via Google. “All content should be copied without restriction. But for education and research, copyright laws are especially damaging.”
....
Alexandra Elbakyan is shown in this undated handout photo. She is the creator of Sci-Hub, which provides free access to 50 million research articles that are supposed to be behind paywalls. (Courtesy photo)
Many academics, university librarians and longtime advocates for open scholarly research are closely following Elbakyan’s efforts. They believe she is finally giving academic publishers their Napster moment, a reference to the illegal music-sharing service that disrupted and permanently altered the industry. ... “While we don’t condone fraud and using illegal sources, I will say that I appreciate how she is shining a light on just how out of whack the system is of providing easy access to basic information that our universities and scholars need to advance science and research,” said Heather Joseph, executive director of SPARC, an organization that advocates for open access to research. “This has been a problem for decades.”
By Michael S. Rosenwald March 30 at 11:08 AM
@mikerosenwald
Alexandra Elbakyan is a highbrow pirate in hiding. ... The 27-year-old graduate student from Kazakhstan is operating a searchable online database of nearly 50 million stolen scholarly journal articles, shattering the $10 billion-per-year paywall of academic publishers.
Elbakyan has kept herself beyond the reach of a federal judge who late last year issued an injunction against her site, noting that damages could total $150,000 per article — a sum that Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis, a journal in her database, could help calculate. But she is not hiding from responsibility.
“There are many ways to argue that copyright infringement is not theft, but even if it is, it is justified in this case,” she said in an instant-message interview via Google. “All content should be copied without restriction. But for education and research, copyright laws are especially damaging.”
....
Alexandra Elbakyan is shown in this undated handout photo. She is the creator of Sci-Hub, which provides free access to 50 million research articles that are supposed to be behind paywalls. (Courtesy photo)
Many academics, university librarians and longtime advocates for open scholarly research are closely following Elbakyan’s efforts. They believe she is finally giving academic publishers their Napster moment, a reference to the illegal music-sharing service that disrupted and permanently altered the industry. ... “While we don’t condone fraud and using illegal sources, I will say that I appreciate how she is shining a light on just how out of whack the system is of providing easy access to basic information that our universities and scholars need to advance science and research,” said Heather Joseph, executive director of SPARC, an organization that advocates for open access to research. “This has been a problem for decades.”
I was wondering if she plans to work for free. There is another side to the story, though. Namely, the public has already paid for a lot of this research.
Among the comments were these:
bogbug
5:39 PM EST
Have you read the extensive coverage in The Economist that focused on academic publishing as a business sector with a unique and astounding profit margin?
http://www.economist.com/node/21552574
5:39 PM EST
Have you read the extensive coverage in The Economist that focused on academic publishing as a business sector with a unique and astounding profit margin?
http://www.economist.com/node/21552574
bogbug
5:55 PM EST
Updates follow this earlier excellent coverage,
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21635444-revolution-academic-publishing-continues-lighten-our-darkness
The Economist is hardly opposed to profits. But it knows a racket when it sees it! And, things are changing -- but not fast enough.
5:55 PM EST
Updates follow this earlier excellent coverage,
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21635444-revolution-academic-publishing-continues-lighten-our-darkness
The Economist is hardly opposed to profits. But it knows a racket when it sees it! And, things are changing -- but not fast enough.
Academic publishing
Open sesame
When research is funded by the taxpayer or by charities, the results should be available to all without charge
Apr 14th 2012 | From the print edition
Open sesame
When research is funded by the taxpayer or by charities, the results should be available to all without charge
Apr 14th 2012 | From the print edition
7 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
