Till et al. (2019)

Source Details

Till et al. (2019)
Title:	Who is pirating medical literature? A bibliometric review of 28 million Sci-Hub downloads
Author(s):	Till, B. M., Rudolfson, N., Saluja, S., Gnanaraj, J., Samad, L., Ljungman, D.
Year:	2019
Citation:	Till, B.M., Rudolfson, N., Saluja, S., Gnanaraj, J., Samad, L., and Ljungman, D. (2019) Who is pirating medical literature? A bibliometric review of 28 million Sci-Hub downloads. Global Health Correspondence, 7(1)
Link(s):	Open Access
Key Related Studies:	Bohannon (2016) Mejia et al. (2017) Himmelstein, Romero and McLaughlin (2018)
Discipline:	O34: Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
Linked by:

About the Data
Data Description:	Data were obtained from a bibliometric review of 27.8 million Sci-Hub download requests for medical journals obtained between September 2016 - February 2016. Data points included date, time, country of request and DOI.
Data Type:	Primary and Secondary data
Secondary Data Sources:	Sci-Hub Elsevier World Bank Development Indicators Scimago
Data Collection Methods:	Web analytic (online user trace data)
Data Analysis Methods:	Regression Analysis
Industry(ies):	Publishing of books, periodicals and other publishing
Country(ies):	Global
Cross Country Study?:	Yes
Comparative Study?:	No
Literature review?:	No
Government or policy study?:	No
Time Period(s) of Collection:	September 2016 - February 2016
Funder(s):

Abstract

“We aimed to define the proportion of downloads on Sci-Hub that are medical in nature and to consider these data at the national level, evaluating the relation between density of medical literature downloads and scientific output, national income classifications, and indicators of internet penetrance. We did a bibliometric review of previously compiled Sci-Hub download requests logged between September, 2015, and February, 2016. Data points included date, time, country of request, and digital object identifier (DOI). For each DOI, we obtained associated metadata using the CrossRef application programming interface. We obtained statistics on per-country scientific publications from Scimago, and relied on World Bank Development Indicators for income classifications and internet penetrance.”

Main Results of the Study

Most queries for medical literature originate from middle income countries (incl. India, China, the USA, Brazil and Iran). The prevalence of downloads from these countries is attributed to a “trough” in access to medical literature; increasing educational attainment and rapidly growing medical industries leads to increased demand, whilst legal access to medical literature remains limited.

Policy Implications as Stated By Author

The study concludes that “continued inequity in legal access to the medical literature demands the attention of both the publishing industry and policymakers”, though offers no specific policy suggestions.

Coverage of Study

Coverage of Fundamental Issues

Issue	Included within Study
Relationship between protection (subject matter/term/scope) and supply/economic development/growth/welfare
Relationship between creative process and protection - what motivates creators (e.g. attribution; control; remuneration; time allocation)?
Harmony of interest assumption between authors and publishers (creators and producers/investors)
Effects of protection on industry structure (e.g. oligopolies; competition; economics of superstars; business models; technology adoption)
Understanding consumption/use (e.g. determinants of unlawful behaviour; user-generated content; social media)

Coverage of Evidence Based Policies

Issue	Included within Study
Nature and Scope of exclusive rights (hyperlinking/browsing; reproduction right)
Exceptions (distinguish innovation and public policy purposes; open-ended/closed list; commercial/non-commercial distinction)
Mass digitisation/orphan works (non-use; extended collective licensing)
Licensing and Business models (collecting societies; meta data; exchanges/hubs; windowing; crossborder availability)
Fair remuneration (levies; copyright contracts)
Enforcement (quantifying infringement; criminal sanctions; intermediary liability; graduated response; litigation and court data; commercial/non-commercial distinction; education and awareness)

Datasets

Sample size:	27.8 million"million" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 27.8.
Level of aggregation:	Downloads
Period of material under study:	September 2016 - February 2016