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in reply to Rusty Bertrand

I always assumed the author got some of that, so I should pay and support them.

But that arrangement - it's shameful :-(

in reply to Deb has moved! (see profile) 🇨🇦

@deborahh I always feel reluctant to bother the author directly. But, $35 per paper gets expensive very quickly if you are doing any sort of serious research.
in reply to JillL

@jillL @deborahh
I contacted scientists and documentarians on Twitter all the time. They let me pick their brains and always seemed happy to talk.

I would contact heads of research and libraries at fancy universities for information I couldnt find. They would point me in the right direction and sometimes even get all excited about it too.

People like to talk about their specialties.

in reply to JillL

@jillL @deborahh they generally get excited that someone outside their field cares enough to want to read their paper. But there are also pirate sites like sci-hub that you can use without feeling guilty, now you know where the journal fees are really going
in reply to Sofia ☭🇧🇷☭

@sofiav @jillL @deborahh 100% Of my interactions with researchers went like that. They're absolutely delighted to share their work whenever possible
in reply to r҉ustic cy͠be̸rpu̵nk🤠🤖

I’ve had academics print up and internationally mail me copies of rare unpublished manuscripts for free. They get SO stoked when the general public asks them questions y’all like don’t even know if you haven’t done it. They got into the profession to share knowledge! Most of them would actually way rather talk to random folks who are highly interested in the subject than lecture to bored 18 year olds.
This entry was edited (4 months ago)
in reply to JillL

@jillL @deborahh
In the old days authors would get a load of paper copies of the paper and would send them out to anyone who requested it.
Not sure what the practice is now as I haven't published for a while.

The benefit to the author is that it increases the possibility of their work being cited.

Absolutely do ask the author for a copy.

I occasionally get asked for copies of papers and am happy to send out if I have any copies of a particular one left.

in reply to Deb has moved! (see profile) 🇨🇦

@deborahh nope. Moreover, reviewers (who actually make the scientific paper something different from a blog post) are also not paid. Scienitific journals are probably the most prominent and unknown example of a modern monopoly.
in reply to Deb has moved! (see profile) 🇨🇦

@deborahh we get no money from publishing or conference presentations, and we often have to pay publishers and always have to pay for conferences. ☹️ yes, please. Ask us for copies of our articles.
in reply to Deb has moved! (see profile) 🇨🇦

@deborahh I was on a paper published in Nature last year.

For making the PDF open-access on its website rather than charging people to read it, Nature asked the lead author to write a check for $11,000.

This is why astronomers have the arXiv open preprint server instead.

in reply to Rusty Bertrand

Yes but...

If a reader asks for a copy of one of your paywalled articles, by all means send one by email. But at the same time, deposit a copy in an #OpenAccess #repository (#GreenOA). That will help all who need access, not just the tiny subset willing to hunt you down, write, and ask.

Not all authors have the rights to do this. But many authors have them without realizing it, and in principle all authors could have them going forward.
bit.ly/how-oa

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in reply to Rusty Bertrand

Plus you can often make new friends who actually know stuff about stuff you like to know about. Having mailed back more than a few papers in my time, I can also attest the feeling goes both ways! 😌
This entry was edited (4 months ago)
in reply to teledyn 𓂀

Later I said, hey, I could run httpd on our utility Irix server and post what I could as these newfangled pdf files. The impact on citations was almost immediate!
in reply to teledyn 𓂀

@teledyn
I guess its time to change Internet channels. This one sucks.

Anything can be deleted. I mean the WHOLE Stephen Colbert show was, or is soon to be deleted. (The satirical Comedy Central program The Colbert Report that ran from 2005 to 2014.)

Vice deleted whole archives when it was bought.

Dark ages.