5 ms·

If you talk with non-scientists, you'll realize that most people are happy to pay the fees as they don't really understand how things work in the background. Wh

If you talk with non-scientists, you'll realize that most people are happy to pay the fees as they don't really understand how things work in the background. While they think they are supporting science by paying the fees, the reality is that everyone is paying the publisher and the publisher takes all the fees to themselves. But when you mention this to non-scientists, they'll gasp in non-belief.

matheusmoreira 5y ago
> But when you mention this to non-scientists, they'll gasp in non-belief. They gasp in pure joy. Back in school I had a professor who paid out of his own pocket for access to one particular journal in order to bring scientific articles to class. Our library didn't have access to this journal. I was disgusted by how these journals were exploiting him. I looked for a way to fix that and discovered Sci-Hub for the first time. He was overjoyed when I showed him that. Our classes became better, richer. He could finally bring whatever material he felt was important. The damage these copyright monopolists cause cannot be quantified. There's also the usability. When I told my classmates about Sci-Hub, they were also very happy because they no longer had to go through our library in order to access scientific articles. They can just download whatever they want. This is how things should be.
bo1024 5y ago
The top comment on this HN submission at the moment has this misunderstanding.
GuB-42 5y ago
Just curious, who are these non-scientists who will pay for scientific papers? Journalists? I can't imagine people whose work do not depend on these papers pay the exorbitant fees. And those who need scientific papers for work are generally the ones we call scientists.
- matheusmoreira 5y ago
  Doctors came to mind. They depend on scientific evidence for their practice but most do not publish scientific articles.
- ta988 5y ago
  People with a disease and searching for informations about it. You can't imagine how many patients I've heard payed for those articles. And $30-$60 is a lot for just ten pages...
  - matheusmoreira 5y ago
    I never considered that. These monopolists will exploit even sick people. It's disgusting.
    - sircastor 5y ago
      I agree with you. I think the monopolists would respond that this is research that should be done by the doctor, not the patient. Patients doing their own research can be dangerous.
      - ta988 5y ago
        Yes and if my wife didn't bring articles and did her own research to her doctors she would likely be dead by now... Patients bringing info to doctors is extremely common. It also mean that doctors have to deal with a lot of BS unfortunately.
- AlbertCory 5y ago
  > "who are these non-scientists who will pay for scientific papers? Journalists?" Patent researchers. I was one. Except I never paid a fee just to look at a paper, purely because I don't know if it's any good until I read it, and there are HUNDREDS of papers I have to skim. You can always find it or something very similar for free. Once we know it's an important paper, then our outside law firm would pay the fee, and it would disappear in their monthly bill.
- sircastor 5y ago
  I’m an amateur electrical engineer and I’ve taken time to read research papers about robotics and electronics. I learn all kinds of stuff. I think there’s a problem in the world (at least in engineering) where research is being done two or more times because of lack of information dissemination. Once by the university researcher, once by the corporate researcher, and many times by the layman who is moving through conclusions on his own work.

matheusmoreira 5y ago

> But when you mention this to non-scientists, they'll gasp in non-belief. They gasp in pure joy. Back in school I had a professor who paid out of his own pocket for access to one particular journal in order to bring scientific articles to class. Our library didn't have access to this journal. I was disgusted by how these journals were exploiting him. I looked for a way to fix that and discovered Sci-Hub for the first time. He was overjoyed when I showed him that. Our classes became better, richer. He could finally bring whatever material he felt was important. The damage these copyright monopolists cause cannot be quantified. There's also the usability. When I told my classmates about Sci-Hub, they were also very happy because they no longer had to go through our library in order to access scientific articles. They can just download whatever they want. This is how things should be.

bo1024 5y ago

The top comment on this HN submission at the moment has this misunderstanding.

GuB-42 5y ago

Just curious, who are these non-scientists who will pay for scientific papers? Journalists? I can't imagine people whose work do not depend on these papers pay the exorbitant fees. And those who need scientific papers for work are generally the ones we call scientists.

matheusmoreira 5y ago
Doctors came to mind. They depend on scientific evidence for their practice but most do not publish scientific articles.
ta988 5y ago
People with a disease and searching for informations about it. You can't imagine how many patients I've heard payed for those articles. And $30-$60 is a lot for just ten pages...
- matheusmoreira 5y ago
  I never considered that. These monopolists will exploit even sick people. It's disgusting.
  - sircastor 5y ago
    I agree with you. I think the monopolists would respond that this is research that should be done by the doctor, not the patient. Patients doing their own research can be dangerous.
    - ta988 5y ago
      Yes and if my wife didn't bring articles and did her own research to her doctors she would likely be dead by now... Patients bringing info to doctors is extremely common. It also mean that doctors have to deal with a lot of BS unfortunately.
AlbertCory 5y ago
> "who are these non-scientists who will pay for scientific papers? Journalists?" Patent researchers. I was one. Except I never paid a fee just to look at a paper, purely because I don't know if it's any good until I read it, and there are HUNDREDS of papers I have to skim. You can always find it or something very similar for free. Once we know it's an important paper, then our outside law firm would pay the fee, and it would disappear in their monthly bill.
sircastor 5y ago
I’m an amateur electrical engineer and I’ve taken time to read research papers about robotics and electronics. I learn all kinds of stuff. I think there’s a problem in the world (at least in engineering) where research is being done two or more times because of lack of information dissemination. Once by the university researcher, once by the corporate researcher, and many times by the layman who is moving through conclusions on his own work.