Created in 2011, Sci-Hub is the largest free repository of scholarly articles in the world. Or rather, it is the largest shadow library of pirated articles that exists. And its creator, Kazakh researcher Alexandra Elbakyan deserves a Nobel Prize for her work as a modern Robin Hood.

We all know the basis by which academics work: publish or perish. And it is increasingly difficult for researchers to have access to the texts they need to do their work – even their own. A couple of years ago, while I was still climbing the ladder of academia and needed to publish as much as possible, one of my articles ended up in a well-ranked journal that did not even give the authors access to the articles they wrote. Nor did I get access through my university, which did not subscribe to such a journal.

Full article at The Booksellers’ website. Date of publication: 04/05/2021.