How To Access Scientific Articles For Free?
By: Jj Lim, Bsc, Hons
Tags: Open Access, Paywall, Free, Science, Publishing

How To Access Scientific Articles For Free?

Scientific articles are peer-reviewed publications reporting scientific findings based on experiments or reviews that follow scientific methods. Scientific articles are published in scientific journals.

The Problem

There is an increasing number of open-access journals in recent years, that means readers do not need to pay to read scientific articles published in these journals. Some of those that I know in my area of interest are: MDPI, Frontiers, PLOS, Cell, Ecology and Evolution, BMC, and many more.

They are not just any low-quality publishers but have a very high reputation in the field of science and highly-cited. Yet, many scientific journals require readers’ subscription to read their articles at a sky-high subscription cost. If you are a graduate and is not anymore affiliate to any research institutions such as government institution, hospital, university, library, etc, it is unlikely you have access to a wide range of first-hand scientific information.

It is really a bummer when you encounter an interesting article that you don’t have access to:

Source: Screenshot from JJ Lim. Meeting the paywall at Science Direct search engine.

Seriously, I need to pay $31.50 to purchase a 10-page long scientific article pdf? Many people who live in low-income countries, such as Asia, have a financial barrier to access this knowledge. We acknowledge the efforts of researchers conducting the research. As a researcher myself, I understand how much we would like to be paid for our research. But, as a researcher myself, we also need access to a wide range of scientific articles to build on existing knowledge and fill in the current knowledge gap. Knowledge should be freely accessible for those who want to pursue it, and should not be restricted by a paywall. I couldn’t imagine myself as a self-practising nutritionist with limited access to scientific articles, I just cannot practice the best science for my clients.

The most legitimate but least successful method is: Go to ResearchGate and send the author a message to request for the article.

Source: Screenshot from JJ Lim. I requested full-text from the authors at the ResearchGate.

The Grey Area of accessing scientific articles with the greatest success rate

Here comes the most successful method that I found, which also fell in the Grey Area.

A website known as Sci-Hub provides more than 80,746,555 scientific articles for free at the time of writing. Feel free to follow their Twitter for updates.

Source: Screenshot from JJ Lim. Sci-Hub interface.

How to use Sci-Hub?

Step 1: Find the scientific article you want from Google Scholar.

Source: Screenshot by JJ Lim.

Step 2: Click into the link provided by Google Scholar.

Source: Screenshot by JJ Lim.

Step 3: You arrive at a scientific article depository, which you are very likely to hit the paywall. Copy the DOI (highlighted).

Source: Screenshot by JJ Lim

Step 4: Paste the DOI at Sci-Hub.

Source: Screenshot by JJ Lim

Step 5: Tadaaaa!!!! Enjoy your reading

Source: Screenshot by JJ Lim

Note: I found that the site is not working 24/7.

You make your own decision.

To use Sci-Hub or not, you make your own decision. There has been a mix of criticism and praise. You decide whether this is an appropriate path to access knowledge.

In my opinion, scientific authors should receive payments through funders who support their research, and provide free-access of knowledge to readers.

I found they (University of Auckland) paid almost US$15 million last year to just four publishers… Paywalls on research hold up scientific progress and limit the public’s access to the latest information.— Dr. Mark Wilson from the University of Auckland told The Conversation. It offers free and relatively easy access to millions of papers harvested (illegally) from publishers’ websites… Sci-Hub is seen as a ‘Robin Hood’ figure. — Prof. David Nicholas.

There is a rising tide to support the Open-Access Movement. Undoubtedly, there will be a lot of conflict of interest between authors, publishers and the funders in providing open-access articles.

Nevertheless, Sci-Hub is very courageous and ambitious to share more than 80 million scientific articles for free.