4 ms·

I'm not sure whether you are joking or not, but how to get paper is never a concern for a PI in academia.

jacquesm 8y ago
Correction: in rich country academia. Go check up on how many people credit being able to finish their studies due to SciHub being available to them when the institutions they are affiliated with did not have the funds to be able to stay current. There is a tendency to conflate 'I don't have this particular problem' to 'This particular problem does not exist'.
- leemailll 8y ago
  No, I don’t mean in rich country. First, I believe most papers already list coresspoding author’ email, which one can send a request to for a reprint. And most people would be happy to send one, and because citation is one of the important metric for how successful and influential one’s research is. Most people is happy to send one. Second, PI is different from student for this. As a PI one basically already has some connections with people in the field. It’s likely you already know some of the authors, or your friends in the field could help you get a copy. I don’t mean PIs would find scihub not useful, but PIs likely have other resources to help get a paper.
  - apathy 8y ago
    Why bother? The only time I have to email other PIs regarding their papers are when protocol steps are missing or when data has not been deposited. And in about half of those instances, it simply reminds me why I love not relying on the “goodwill” of competitors.
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    > First, I believe most papers already list coresspoding author’ email, which one can send a request to for a reprint. Sure. If you have a couple of weeks to spare and you feel that disturbing the author of a paper from whatever they are working on to send you a pdf which you could just as easily fetch for yourself in a few seconds is a good way to spend both your time. PIs tend to find SciHub very useful, even the ones in rich countries where plenty of universities are cutting costs (so sorry if that means cutting access to a critical journal for your field).
  - type0 8y ago
    > And most people would be happy to send one Maybe if you can wait for weeks, but then again that's a maybe. You do realize how critical this is when you try to design your experiment, why even bother by then.
fifnir 8y ago
Yes it is: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/whos-downloading-pirated-papers-everyone http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/whos-downloading-pira...
- subroutine 8y ago
  That article never once mentioned "PI" or "Professor", not that it's even on-topic. This article is about setting up a lab on a shoestring budget (by acquiring used equipment or negotiating discounted use on communal equipment). I don't think Step-1 for acquiring lab equipment is pirating a research article.
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    Just for you, the caption under the article illustration reads: "Researchers from Ghana take part in TReND in Africa’s Advanced Open Labware workshop in Cape Town, South Africa, this April.Credit: Agnieszka Pokrywka/TReND in Africa" How many researchers in Ghana do you think have the funds to buy research papers at $30,- per shot?
    - jonhendry18 8y ago
      You don't have to buy them if you request a copy from the authors. The authors don't make any money when you pay to download a paper from a journal. So they'd have no reason not to send you a pdf.
      - apathy 8y ago
        Other than being obscenely busy. Go away, Elsevier troll
        dang 8y ago
        Personal attacks will get you banned here, so please don't do that again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
trentlott 8y ago
I'm getting a PhD at a US News top 100 University (lol), and I'm published in a journal we don't have access to.
cryoshon 8y ago
false. even in extremely well-funded academic labs, journal access can be sparse. i have heard the line "i could only read the abstract for free, but..." from PIs more than a handful of times.

Correction: in rich country academia. Go check up on how many people credit being able to finish their studies due to SciHub being available to them when the institutions they are affiliated with did not have the funds to be able to stay current. There is a tendency to conflate 'I don't have this particular problem' to 'This particular problem does not exist'.

leemailll 8y ago
No, I don’t mean in rich country. First, I believe most papers already list coresspoding author’ email, which one can send a request to for a reprint. And most people would be happy to send one, and because citation is one of the important metric for how successful and influential one’s research is. Most people is happy to send one. Second, PI is different from student for this. As a PI one basically already has some connections with people in the field. It’s likely you already know some of the authors, or your friends in the field could help you get a copy. I don’t mean PIs would find scihub not useful, but PIs likely have other resources to help get a paper.
- apathy 8y ago
  Why bother? The only time I have to email other PIs regarding their papers are when protocol steps are missing or when data has not been deposited. And in about half of those instances, it simply reminds me why I love not relying on the “goodwill” of competitors.
- jacquesm 8y ago
  > First, I believe most papers already list coresspoding author’ email, which one can send a request to for a reprint. Sure. If you have a couple of weeks to spare and you feel that disturbing the author of a paper from whatever they are working on to send you a pdf which you could just as easily fetch for yourself in a few seconds is a good way to spend both your time. PIs tend to find SciHub very useful, even the ones in rich countries where plenty of universities are cutting costs (so sorry if that means cutting access to a critical journal for your field).
- type0 8y ago
  > And most people would be happy to send one Maybe if you can wait for weeks, but then again that's a maybe. You do realize how critical this is when you try to design your experiment, why even bother by then.

fifnir 8y ago

Yes it is: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/whos-downloading-pirated-papers-everyone http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/whos-downloading-pira...

subroutine 8y ago
That article never once mentioned "PI" or "Professor", not that it's even on-topic. This article is about setting up a lab on a shoestring budget (by acquiring used equipment or negotiating discounted use on communal equipment). I don't think Step-1 for acquiring lab equipment is pirating a research article.
- jacquesm 8y ago
  Just for you, the caption under the article illustration reads: "Researchers from Ghana take part in TReND in Africa’s Advanced Open Labware workshop in Cape Town, South Africa, this April.Credit: Agnieszka Pokrywka/TReND in Africa" How many researchers in Ghana do you think have the funds to buy research papers at $30,- per shot?
  - jonhendry18 8y ago
    You don't have to buy them if you request a copy from the authors. The authors don't make any money when you pay to download a paper from a journal. So they'd have no reason not to send you a pdf.
    - apathy 8y ago
      Other than being obscenely busy. Go away, Elsevier troll
      - dang 8y ago
        Personal attacks will get you banned here, so please don't do that again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

trentlott 8y ago

I'm getting a PhD at a US News top 100 University (lol), and I'm published in a journal we don't have access to.

cryoshon 8y ago

false. even in extremely well-funded academic labs, journal access can be sparse. i have heard the line "i could only read the abstract for free, but..." from PIs more than a handful of times.