Human rights and pirate libraries: Can Sci-Hub.Org-enabled improvements in access to scientific literature help fulfil human rights?

Abstract

Pirate libraries offer universal and free access to scientific literature. They probably have every scientific article ever published in their repositories and have used human rights to justify their work. The extent to which they are used by researchers is largely unexplored. This dissertation evaluated the human rights claim of Sci-Hub.org, one of the leading pirate libraries, and investigated its usage by researchers in the European Union. Regressions were used to explore the relationships between down-loads form Sci-Hub.org, and spending on academic libraries or published scientific articles, while taking into account internet access and prevalence of software piracy. Downloads from Sci-Hub.org were independent of spending in libraries but were influenced by both the number of published articles and internet access, suggesting that research needs influence usage of pirate libraries more than access needs. Widespread and continuously-increasing usage of Sci-Hub.org along with the independence from library spending supported pirate libraries as services that can help bridge the access gap for literature and more generally aid the advancement of human rights. However, universal availability of scientific literature, without research skills to complement it, could have limited effect on advancing human rights,.