Sci-Hub, a challenge for academic and research libraries Llarina González-Solar; Viviana Fernández-Marcial How to cite this article: González-Solar, Llarina; Fernández-Marcial, Viviana (2019). “Sci-Hub, a challenge for academic and research libraries”. El profesional de la información, v. 28, n. 1, e280112. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2019.ene.12 Article received on 26-09-2018 Approved on 24-11-2018 Llarina González-Solar * Viviana Fernández-Marcial https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4443-4102 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9277-266X Universidade da Coruña (Spain) Universidade da Coruña (Spain) Facultad de Humanidades y Documentación Grupo de Investigación Historia, Arqueología,
[email protected] Documentación y Cultura (Hadoc)
[email protected] Abstract Sci-Hub emerged into the field of scientific communication in 2011 as a platform for free access to scientific papers. Itis the most popular of the so-called shadow libraries, systems that overcome the limits of legal access to scientific publi- cations, standing apart from the open access movement. Besides from the media coverage that has served to boost its popularity, several studies reveal the impact of Sci-Hub among researchers, who have embraced this initiative. Sci-Hub has revealed new forms of access to scientific information, affecting academic and research libraries that cannot remain on the sidelines. This study addresses the Sci-Hub phenomenon and its implications for academic and research libraries from different points of view, through a bibliographic review and an analysis of examples of action. Keywords Academic libraries; University libraries; Shadow libraries; Information behaviour; Sci-Hub; Scientific communication; Ethics; Legality; Legal issues; Information access; Open access; Free information; Information usage habits.