Alexandra Elbakyan – The System is Holding Back Scientific Progress | | LEAF

"Today, we have an interview with Sci-Hub creator Alexandra Elbakyan, who is committed to the free flow of scientific knowledge and is challenging the unfair journal system, which charges outrageous fees to view scientific publications. Hiding scientific knowledge behind paywalls Around 70% of scientific publications are hidden behind paywalls, restricting access to knowledge and progress. We believe that this is unfair and that putting profit before the health of others is morally repugnant, and this is part of why we support the concept of Open Science, particularly the work of Alexandra Elbakyan. Alexandra is the founder of Sci-Hub, a website devoted to providing scientists, students, and researchers with free access to scientific publications that would otherwise be locked behind paywalls. Sci-Hub bypasses the publishers’ paywalls by allowing access through educational institution proxies. Sci-Hub then stores papers in its own repository for anyone to obtain and benefit from the knowledge contained. It is thought that over 67 million scientific publications and articles are now available via the Sci-Hub service...."