Abstract

Sci-Hub breaks into the field of scientific communication in 2011 as a platform for free access to scientific papers. It is the most popular of the so-called shadow libraries, systems that overcome the limits of legal access to scientific publications, standing outside the open access movement. Apart from the media issues that have made it gain popularity, several studies reveal the Sci-Hub impact among researchers, who have accepted this initiative willingly. Sci-Hub has revealed new forms of access to scientific information, affecting academic and research libraries that cannot remain on the sidelines. This study addresses the Sci-Hub phenomenon and its implications for academic and research libraries from different points of view, through a bibliographic review and the analysis of examples of action.

Abstract

We present the results of the Harbinger project, carried out between 2016 and 2022 in several countries on three continents, which focused on the use that early career researchers make of the resources available through university libraries. These include catalogs, databases, and big deals, as well as alternative platforms such as Google search engines, academic social networks (ResearchGate), and pirate platforms (Sci-Hub). Likewise, the project inquires as to the holdings of institutional repositories and the future that these researchers predict for academic libraries. It concludes with the need for libraries to strengthen communication and support for researchers, taking into account in particular the early career researchers who are the future of science.