Should academic research be behind paywalls? Researchers and peer reviewers earn nothing for their work, and yet academic publishers boast enormous profit margins every year from subscription fees to journals. Especially during a global pandemic, is it right for scientific research to be pay-to-read?

Sci-Hub is an illegal website that offers almost all academic publications for free, created by Alexandra Elbakyan, who I interview in this video. Aaron Swartz, like Alexandra, felt that information should be freely available on the Internet. He ended his own life after being charged with wire fraud, because he illegally downloaded academic articles from JSTOR.

What is the way forward? Pre-prints? Researchgate? Have your say below.

A huge thank you to Alexandra Elbakyan and Rachel Atwood (@racatiwood) for giving up their time so generously on two occasions (due to Zoom failing the first time). We talked for a while longer, and whether you agree with what Alexandra’s doing or not, her accomplishments are quite staggering.

Thank you also to translations25 (I don’t know her actual name!) on Fiverr who did a great job translating the recording back for the subtitles. If there are any errors in the transcript that’s from me editing it down incorrectly. If you want a Russian/English/Ukranian translator for a good price she’s here:

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More Medlife Crisis:

Current Sci-Hub addresses, but subject to change:
sci-hub.st
sci-hub.se
sci-hub.do

I was inspired to photoshop myself into Solvay by my friend Alex Lathbridge (Twitter @thermoflynamics) to whom I owe a lot. The Shining ending…I have no idea, I get a bit delirious after editing for hours.

References:

A few excellent articles by writers to whom I owe a lot of the basis of this video
Especially this one: Is the staggeringly profitable business of scientific publishing bad for science?
Scientific publishing is a rip-off. We fund the research – it should be free | George Monbiot
These Five Companies Control More Than Half of Academic Publishing
A really great deep dive into the open access movement and Alexandra’s work as well: Meet the pirate queen making academic papers free online

Should Knowledge Be Free?
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