But lately, it has been in the news, transcending debates that usually involve a small band of academics, publishers, and open science activists. Everyone except academic publishers, that is, which is why they are the ones suing Sci-Hub, in keeping with their approach to science as a business. Yet digitization, desktop publishing, social networks and the Internet, among other recent developments, have rendered some of these services redundant and reduced the cost of others dramatically. Instead of disappearing into thin air, conglomerates specializing in academic publishing, including Elsevier, Sage, Springer, Wiley-Blackwell and Taylor & Francis, began charging increasingly higher fees, which are currently estimated at $10 billion annually. Sci-Hub offers nothing by way of publishing, curating or a social academic network; it’s simply a search engine.

Source: Forbes September 09, 2017 15:56 UTC