Coronavirus or coronavirus, or 2019n-CoV: The idea that scientific papers and studies should be locked behind a paywall is based on a belief of the world's biggest, and wealthiest, publishers. To its founder Sci-Hub – also known as The Pirate Bay of Science – this is unacceptable and offensive to humanity.
Providing free access to scientific knowledge for the benefit of all humanity is a growing movement. So an activist also known as 'shrine' decided to give more knowledge to the world, especially at a point where it is needed.
The Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak has been making headlines for some time now. So far, it has infected at least 31.500 people in 28 countries, killing over 630. Preventing its spread is a global issue and while doctors and scientists do their work, people like 'shrine' are doing their best to help.
A few days ago, one appeared Publication on Reddit, which announced the creation of an unofficial database of scientific studies and research on coronavirus.
The database was created by 'shrine' with support from friends and hosting provided by 'Archivist' on the archive website The-Eye.eu, after scanning Sci-Hub's 80 million documents for everything related to coronaviruses and placing them in one place for easy access.
This archive currently has 5.532 studies and documents dating from 2020 to 1968.
"Our work is illegal, but we are doing the right thing on this one crisis. We refuse to put copyright before human lives. "Sharing everything we know about the virus is essential, which is why international scientists are openly sharing their findings about the virus in an unprecedented way," says 'shrine'.
"Scientists around the world often work without access to knowledge, due to complex and costly contractual agreements between publishers, universities and hospitals, relying on outside partners to help them hunt PDF files. The virus is not going to wait for us, so we must act now. "
This week, Vice reported that science publishers Elsevier, Wiley, and Springer Nature removed their paywalls to allow free access to some coronavirus research studies. But for the shrine, it was too little, and it was too late.
"Publishers kept Coronavirus paywalls active for almost three weeks before waking up and giving very limited open access."
"In our view, this obstruction and delay in access to knowledge during a crisis is a crime against humanity and should be seen as a direct attack on our lives and health as a species."
Although the project is only a few days old, those interested are starting to arrive from all over the world.
So far the unofficial file has more than half a million downloads, and half terabyte bandwidth has been consumed.
The Coronaviruses Papers have been evaluated and supported by anonymous virologists. We consider the program a success even if we help just one scientist with access to one of these critical studies.
Video from TorrentFreak
