Sci-Hub : La science en open access – Journal économique de l'UQÀM

Google English: "Sci-Hub: Science in open access. Limited access to scientific knowledge can hinder the development of certain areas, especially in developing countries. It is to combat this phenomenon that in 2011, Alexandra Elbakyan, a student in neuroscience and of Kazakh origin, launched the Sci-Hub website . The goal of Sci-Hub is simple: bypass the paywalls protecting access to scientific journal articles. In March 2017, Sci-Hub provided access to nearly 70% of the 81.6 million scientific articles published. This proportion rises to more than 85% if we only consider items requiring a toll (Himmelstein et al. , 2017). In other words, a simple internet connection now allows you to access virtually all published scientific articles. Sci-Hub is not a directory or a library, but rather a script for downloading items hidden behind payment walls....

The future of scientific publications. According to Alexandra Elbakyan, publishers are doomed to change their business model. This pressure comes in part from the presence of sites such as Sci-Hub , but also from universities, these major subscribers. Subscription prices for scientific journals have exploded in the last 30 years: between 1984 and 2001, periodicals in law, medicine and physics saw their subscription fees rise by 205%, 479% and 615% respectively, while the consumer price index has increased by only 70% (Edlin & Rubinfeld, 2004). These increases lead universities to revise their subscriptions to several periodicals. For example, last year, the Université de Montréal reduced its subscriptions to the Taylor & Francis publishing house by 93% , which represents more than 2,000 newspapers (Gagnon, 2017)....

Publishers like Elsevier have been singled out because of the exorbitant prices of certain periodicals and their selling methods ( Bundling between expensive and affordable newspapers, forcing universities to pay the price even for cheaper magazines). ). These publishers could therefore lose their bargaining power with universities if the Sci-Hub phenomenon succeeds in gaining legitimacy on the part of the scientific community.

Meanwhile, Elbakyan and Sci-Hub are in the crosshairs of the American legal system; several publishers including Elsevier and the American Chemical Society have filed lawsuits against them for copyright infringement. The fight is not over for the one that some call the Robin Hood of science."