I'd go one step further and claim that good papers from reputable researchers (in our sub-fields, at least) are all freely available on the authors' websites. T

I'd go one step further and claim that good papers from reputable researchers (in our sub-fields, at least) are all freely available on the authors' websites. There's loads of shady journals behind paywalls that publish low-quality content, but the good stuff that research-active folks in academia use and refer to always seem to be available (N=1 anecdote over ~10 years of being in research). Again, this may be highly CS-specific; don't know how things work in other fields.