Worldwide inequality in access to full text scientific articles: the example of ophthalmology

PeerJ

article

Christophe Boudry¹  Patricio Alvarez-Muñoz³  Ricardo Arencibia-Jorge⁴  Didier Ayena⁵  Niels J. Brouwer⁶  Zia Chaudhuri⁷  Brenda Chawner⁸  Emilienne Epee⁹  Khalil Erraïs^1,10  Akbar Fotouhi^1,11  Almutez M. Gharaibeh^1,12  Dina H. Hassanein^1,13  Martina C. Herwig-Carl^1,14  Katherine Howard^1,15  Dieudonne Kaimbo Wa Kaimbo^1,16  Patricia-Ann Laughrea^1,17  Fernando A. Lopez^1,18  Juan D. Machin-Mastromatteo^1,19  Fernando K. Malerbi^2,20  Papa Amadou Ndiaye^2,21  Nina A. Noor^2,22  Josmel Pacheco-Mendoza^2,23  Vasilios P. Papastefanou^2,24  Mufarriq Shah^2,25  Carol L. Shields^2,26  Ya Xing Wang^2,27  Vasily Yartsev^2,28  Frederic Mouriaux^2,29 

[1] Normandie Univ;URFIST, Ecole Nationale des Chartes, PSL Research University;Universidad Estatal de Milagro;Empresa de Tecnologías de la Información ,(ETI), Grupo de las Industrias Biotecnológica y Farmacéutica ,(BioCubaFarma);Université de Lomé, Faculté des Sciences de la santé, Hôpital de Bè;Leiden University Medical Center, Department of Ophthalmology;University of Delhi, Lady Hardinge Medical College, PGIMER, Dr RML Hospital;Victoria University of Wellington, School of Information Management;Université de Yaoundé, Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences Biomédicales;Université de Tunis El-Manar;Tehran University of Medical Sciences, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics;University of Jordan, Faculty of Medicine;Cairo University, Ophthalmology Department;University of Bonn, Department of Ophthalmology;Flinders University;University of Kinshasa;Laval University, Department of Ophthalmology and Head and Neck Surgery;Universidad Metropolitana para la Educación y el Trabajo;Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua;Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein;Cheikh Anta Diop University, Abass NDAO Hospital;JEC Eye Hospitals and Clinics;Unidad de Investigación en Bibliometría, Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola;Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust. Moorfields Eye Hospital;Pakistan Institute of Community Ophthalmology, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Department of Optometry;Wills Eye Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University;Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Key Laboratory;Scientific Research Institute of Eye Diseases;Univ Rennes, INSERM, INRA, CHU de Rennes, Institut NUMECAN;Service d’ophtalmologie

关键词: Science publishing;    Sci-Hub;    Paywall;    Bibliodiversity;    Hinari;    PubMed Central;    ResearchGate;    Google Scholar;    Online Reprint Request;    Pay-per-view;    Ophthalmology;    Access to literature;    Articles;    Open access;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.7850

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Background The problem of access to medical information, particularly in low-income countries, has been under discussion for many years. Although a number of developments have occurred in the last decade (e.g., the open access (OA) movement and the website Sci-Hub), everyone agrees that these difficulties still persist very widely, mainly due to the fact that paywalls still limit access to approximately 75% of scholarly documents. In this study, we compare the accessibility of recent full text articles in the field of ophthalmology in 27 established institutions located worldwide. Methods A total of 200 references from articles were retrieved using the PubMed database. Each article was individually checked for OA. Full texts of non-OA (i.e., “paywalled articles”) were examined to determine whether they were available using institutional and Hinari access in each institution studied, using “alternative ways” (i.e., PubMed Central, ResearchGate, Google Scholar, and Online Reprint Request), and using the website Sci-Hub. Results The number of full texts of “paywalled articles” available using institutional and Hinari access showed strong heterogeneity, scattered between 0% full texts to 94.8% (mean = 46.8%; SD = 31.5; median = 51.3%). We found that complementary use of “alternative ways” and Sci-Hub leads to 95.5% of full text “paywalled articles,” and also divides by 14 the average extra costs needed to obtain all full texts on publishers’ websites using pay-per-view. Conclusions The scant number of available full text “paywalled articles” in most institutions studied encourages researchers in the field of ophthalmology to use Sci-Hub to search for scientific information. The scientific community and decision-makers must unite and strengthen their efforts to find solutions to improve access to scientific literature worldwide and avoid an implosion of the scientific publishing model. This study is not an endorsement for using Sci-Hub. The authors, their institutions, and publishers accept no responsibility on behalf of readers.

【 授权许可】

CC BY