Liberating Scientific Literature From Publishers

FEATURING HEATHER JOSEPH – The publishers of scientific literature are up in arms. A young university student is attempting to cut into their profits. Here’s how it works. Scientists all over the US do important research, usually funded by the government, and hence, our tax dollars. They then publish their findings, and in doing so, essentially give away their written work to private publishers who in turn sell back the rights to the papers to the scientific community and the public.

If that sounds like a patently unfair model, Alexandra Elbakyan, a 27-year old graduate student from Kazkhastan also thinks so. A few years ago she began a website called Sci-Hub, and began posting thousands of academic papers for others to access for free.

Find out more at www.sparcopen.org.

Heather Joseph, Executive Director of Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC).