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Also when I was in academia (masters). If my university didn't subscribe to a journal (and it wasn't available via an inter-library loan (In the UK you can ask for a journal from another university)). I would just shoot an email to the author asking for a copy

Edit: Actually I usually sent emails even when we did have a hard copy but no online access. Just because I couldn't be bothered to find the physical copy



The issue with this is the authors of some papers either don't respond or simply aren't alive anymore.


It also scales really badly.

If a paper becomes prominent and many people want to read it, is it reasonable for the authors to be inundated with hundreds of requests for a copy?

What is the point of journals if we rely on word of mouth interactions to share information?


In the humanities, authors often upload to Academia.EDU. It doesn't seem to have as much use among scientists.




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