Walking the plank: how scholarly piracy affects publishers, libraries and their users

The arrival of technology supporting peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing in scholarly communication has, until recently, had minimal impact on libraries. However, threats posed by pirate sites including Library Genesis Project (LibGen) and Sci-Hub are now impacting both library users and library licensing agreements with publishers. Publishers are nervous as they witness their proprietary content leaking out of paywalled systems—not just hundreds of thousands of articles, but millions. Accordingly, publishers are monitoring activities in licensed products very closely for any behavior that they deem suspicious. When a user’s activities cause a publisher to question whether materials are being pirated, the outcomes can vary. Consequences can range from relatively minor inconvenience for blocked users, who must find workarounds to access scholarly content—to the potential for major disruption of a centuries-old proprietary publishing system. This article uses a case study involving a student at Brock University to highlight significant challenges facing libraries and the rights of their users in the current environment of piracy-wary academic publishers

Accessibility of published research to practicing veterinarians

Objectives: This study established the percentage of veterinary research articles that are freely available online, availability differences inside and outside of core veterinary medicine publications, sources and trends in article availability over time, and author archiving policies of veterinary journals. This research is particularly important for unaffiliated practitioners who lack broad subscription access and the librarians who assist them. Methods: Web of Science citation data were collected for articles published from 2000–2014 by authors from twenty-eight accredited US colleges of veterinary medicine. A sample of these articles was searched by title in Google Scholar to determine which were freely available online and their sources. Journals represented in this dataset and a basic list of veterinary serials were cross-referenced with the Sherpa/RoMEO database to determine author archiving policies and the percentage of articles that could potentially be made freely available. Results: Over half (62%) of the sample articles were freely available online, most of which (57%) were available from publishers’ websites. Articles published more recently were more likely to be freely available. More articles were found to be available in 2017 (62%) than in 2015 (57%). Most (62%) of the included journals had policies allowing authors to archive copies of their articles. Conclusions: Many articles are freely available online, but opportunity exists to archive additional articles while complying with existing copyright agreements. Articles in veterinary medicine–specific journals are less likely to be freely available than those in interdisciplinary journals. Requirements for federally funded research have likely influenced article availability and may continue to do so.Publisher allows immediate open acces

Diminishing the perceived need for black open access

Conference paper and presentation slidesThe attention garnered by unauthorized sharing and pirating of scholarly content has resulted in a new category on the open access spectrum – black open access. Though black open access attempts to solve the discovery problem inherent in the multitude of open access content sources, it does so in violation of copyright law. Tools have now been developed to combat this same problem legally, including the Open Access Button and Unpaywall. Librarians can engage in several strategies to help diminish the need for black open access, including the promotion of these discovery tools through education and services. We can share the tools with our users and teach them why they should not engage in unauthorized sharing. We can use the tools to fulfill requests and capture the benefits of open access in interlibrary loan. There are also more general strategies related to infrastructure, policy, and education that are important to acknowledge. Librarians can and must move the open access conversation forward in a positive, and legal, direction. This paper provides an overview of the black open access landscape, discusses the discovery tools for uncovering legal open access content, and highlights how librarians can improve systems, services, and education efforts related to open access and open access discovery tools

Pirated Economics

I argue that the impact of piracy engines for scholarly content on science depends on the nature of the research. Social sciences are more likely to reap benefits from such engines without inflicting much damage to journal publisher revenues. To validate the claim, I examine the data from illegal downloads of economics content from Sci-Hub over five-month period. I conclude that: (a) the extent of piracy in economics is not pervasive; (b) as downloads are coming mostly from under-developed countries; (c) users pirate even the content freely available online. As a result, publishers are not losing much revenues, while the exposure to generated knowledge is being extended

Отбор статей российскими исследователями с помощью ресурса SCI-Hub

Анализ использования интернет-ресурса Sci-Hub российскими учеными по издательствам научной периодики, городам и регионам России, из которых происходил отбор статей. Сравнение с аналогичными результатами украинских исследователей

Pirated Economics

I argue that the impact of piracy engines for scholarly content on science depends on the nature of the research. Social sciences are more likely to reap benefits from such engines without inflicting much damage on journal publishers’ revenues. To validate the claim, I examine the data from illegal downloads of economics content from Sci-Hub over a five-month period. I conclude that: (a) the extent of piracy in economics is not pervasive; (b) downloads mostly occur in under-developed countries; (c) users pirate even content that is freely available online. As a result, publishers are

Public perceptions and responses to climate change in France

Responding to climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity today (IPCC 2014). Climate change poses risks for human and natural systems via processes such as water scarcity, land degradation, habitat and biodiversity loss, and extreme weather events. In Southern France, climate change has been directly linked to recent flooding and is projected to increase the future frequency of storms and heatwaves (Beniston et al. 2007). Understanding how citizens perceive and psychologically adapt to climate change is of great importance to developing a coherent and effective strategy to reduce carbon emissions and greater climate resilience. This national survey represents the most comprehensive survey of national climate change attitudes in France to date. It presents and discusses national survey findings from a collaborative and cross-national research project undertaken by the Université Côte d'Azur and Griffith University (Australia) examining public risk perceptions, understanding and responses to the threat and unfolding impacts of climate change in France. The national survey was undertaken between June 5th and July 17th, 2017 and involved a representative, geographically and demographically stratified national sample of 3480 respondents across France. The results provide an up-to-date and comprehensive profile of current French attitudes and beliefs about climate change, their concerns about the impact it may have on their economic well-being, health and natural surroundings, and the ways in which they are responding psychologically and behaviorally to this threat. This report also uncovers how economic conditions and natural weather events impact the evolution of climate change perceptions and attitudes. These results highlight that the design of public communication strategies in relation to climate change adaptation should take into account the nature of these public perceptions of climate change

Пиратские скачивания статей с помощью ресурса Sci-Hub российскими и украинскими исследователями

На основе размещённых Дж. Боханнон и А. Элбакян 28 млн скачанных статей на ресурсе Sci-Hub за период с 1 сентября 2015 по 29 февраля 2016 г. идентифицированы около 1,5 млн статей, скачанных российскими исследователями. Они были распределены по издательствам научной периодики, городам и регионам России, из которых происходило скачивани

Jumping over the paywall: Strategies and motivations for scholarly piracy and other alternatives

Despite the advance of the Open Access (OA) movement, most scholarly production can only be accessed through a paywall. We conduct an international survey among researchers (N=3,304) to measure the willingness and motivations to use (or not use) scholarly piracy sites, and other alternatives to overcome a paywall such as paying with their own money, institutional loans, just reading the abstract, asking the corresponding author for a copy of the document, asking a colleague to get the document for them, or searching for an OA version of the paper. We also explore differences in terms of age, professional position, country income level, discipline, and commitment to OA. The results show that researchers most frequently look for OA versions of the documents. However, more than 50% of the participants have used a scholarly piracy site at least once. This is less common in high-income countries, and among older and better-established scholars. Regarding disciplines, such services were less used in Life & Health Sciences and Social Sciences. Those who have never used a pirate library highlighted ethical and legal objections or pointed out that they were not aware of the existence of such libraries