I'm a person that thinks it's absolutely ridiculous that you run into many pay walls for research that was funded by government or from a public hospital. I believe in the complete free dissemination of healthcare treatment knowledge - the current best practice. Having the knowledge makes us better caregivers, patients and advocates. Not having the information makes us a slave to the system.
Here are two websites that you can use to get free research articles.
Step 1. Find the research article that is behind a paywall. What you will see is the DOI. The DOI will look something like this - DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1503747
Step 2. Get the DOI and put it into one of these two web sites. booksc.xyz/ or sci-hub.tw/
Step 3. Enjoy the "free research" that you PAID for through taxation or insurance costs.
If the DOI does not work, just copy/paste the entire URL into the search bar. So you can just "nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/N... use something like that. I would try the DOI first.
Written by
BarronS
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Thanks, but be careful, you may end up like Aron Schwartz. An great example of your federal government doing what it now does best: suppressing any and all dissent.
wow, totally forgot about Aaron. was thinking his life would make a great movie, then found the documentary had already been done. but a hollywoodized version? aha!
Dear Cujoe, Just read the Wikipedia article you referenced on Aaron Schwartz. I didn't know anything about him but after reading the articles about all of his accomplishments and zeal for changing Society ( internet culture), it doesn't seem likely to me that he would have killed himself. I feel very skeptical. Turning down that plea may have signaled that he would have used a trial as a platform for his beliefs.
I have managed to obtain research articles by writing a brief note to the corresponding author outlining the relevance to my case and requesting a copy.
Wow it works. Many thanks. I used it to get the article "Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer: AUA Guideline Amendment 2018." Got it on sci-hub. But first had to pass a non-robot test, the instructions were in Russian. Probably just my computer since TW is Taiwan. (I remember when, decades ago, Taiwan did not recognize print copyrights and expensive text books and such could be had there for a song.)
The reality is that yes, you can get ahold of a huge amount of books and articles that are normally behind paywalls. OP gives sci-hub.tw which, at least for me, today, does not work.
If, however one searches for sci-hub proxy or goes to scihub.help/ you will find an acting proxy. The proxies are like the moles in whack-a-mole, one gets shut down, another opens.
I'll let each person deal with their own ethics or beliefs what what "should be." Nonetheless, at least sometimes, you are violating law, as in theft. Most likely, you may get a nasty-note from your internet provider, or not, perhaps as luck plays out. It's possible that you could have someone take legal action but I haven't seen much of that in the past years (ten years ago, yes).
Therefore, here is one bit of advice: Use a VPN. Also by using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) you can be in Cyprus or Croatia (well, "appear" to be in, when your access is tracked). This will protect you from intentionally or accidentally crossing the legality line. Also, over time you may find that by accessing one site or another by "being in Cyprus," you can access websites that your internet provider has totally blocked.
I use NordVPN, I get a 3-year contract, which like most is auto-renew, but it's quite cheap, maybe $1.50/month. I do watch it like a hawk and track the end on my calendar, so I back out before it auto-renews at a much higher price. And then the next week, start it up.
VPN's can be turned off and on, it takes about a minute.
I have no connection with NordVPN and any VPN usually will work, but I have found the free ones to be next to useless. It is amazing though that with perseverance one can find most books and articles to download.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.