The Library of Alexandra

22 snips

Apr 7, 2023

Alexandra Elbakyan, the mastermind behind Sci-Hub, reveals her journey in battling the academic publishing giants. She discusses how the platform grants free access to over 88 million research articles, transforming global access to knowledge. The podcast dives into her personal experiences, the ethical dilemmas of copyright, and the intense challenges she faces. Listeners gain insight into the significance of open access and the future of academic publishing, all while experiencing a fascinating glimpse into Elbakyan's life in Kazakhstan.

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ANECDOTE

Sci-Hub Introduction

Jad Abumrad learned about Sci-Hub from an older student.
The student showed him how to easily download research papers for free.

ANECDOTE

Aaron Swartz's Story

Aaron Swartz fought for open access to research and downloaded millions of JSTOR articles.
He faced severe charges and tragically died by suicide before his trial concluded.

INSIGHT

Academic Publishing Profits

Five for-profit publishers dominate scholarly article publishing.
They profit from publicly funded research by charging high fees for access.

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How much does knowledge cost? While that sounds like an abstract question, the answer is surprisingly specific: $3,096,988,440.00. That’s how much the business of publishing scientific and academic research is worth.

This is the story of one woman’s battle against a global network of academic journals that underlie published scientific research. In 2011, Alexandra Elbakyan had just moved home to Kazakhstan after a disappointing few years trying to study neuroscience in the United States when she landed on an internet forum where a bunch of scientists were all looking for the same thing: access to academic journal articles that were behind paywalls. That’s the moment the very simple, but enormously powerful, website called Sci Hub was born.

The site holds over 88 million articles and serves up about a million downloads to people in practically every country on the globe. We travel to Kazakhstan to meet the mysterious woman behind it all and to find out what it takes to make everything we know about anything available to anyone anywhere, for free.Special thanks to Vrindra Bhandari, Balázs Bodó, Stephen Buranyi, Ian Graber-Stiehl, Joel Joseph, Noorain Khalifa, Aparajita Lath, Steve McLaughlin, Marcia McNutt, Randy Scheckman Tanmay Singh, Deborah Harkness, Joe Karaganis, Lawrence Lessig, Glyn Moody, and Steven Press.

Episode Credits:Reported by - Eli CohenReporting help from - Karishma Mehrotra, Emily Krumberger and Norihelys RamosProduced by Simon Adlerwith help from - Eli CohenOriginal music and sound designed by - Simon AdlerMixing by - Jeremy BloomEdited by - Alex Neason

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