well fuck: Sci-Net A new social network platform to request and share research articles (sci-hub.se)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Linked from sci-hub.se when I searched for an unavailable DOI

Sci-Net will ask for a minimum amount of 1000 Sci-Hub tokens to register. The tokens will appear on your account after registration and will be used to reward uploaders. That is the most controversial part: some people argue that Sci-Net introduces paywall similar to publisher.

Even though both might appear similar at a first glance, the differences are profound. Compared to insane publisher paywalls, the entry tax on Sci-Net is symbolic and is not higher than an equivalent of a cup of coffee in most countries. The next difference is that in traditional approach, profits are made by publisher, and ordinary researcher has no control on how the money are used. On Sci-Net, you're using tokens directly to reward uploaders. Payments go to fellow researchers, not to the platform.

But the most important is that publishers will charge for access to the same paper again and again. Sci-Net will only do that once when paper is uploaded and after that, it will remain free forever and for everyone -- even users who are not registered on the platform will be able to access it. That is, all Sci-Net transactions contribute directly to public domain, and the number of knowledge accessible to everyone grows with Sci-Net usage.

The more people use Sci-Hub token, the more valuable it becomes. That way Sci-Net indirectly contributes to maintenance and further development of Sci-Hub.

The only downside is that obtaining Sci-Hub tokens on the Solana network can be a non-trivial puzzle for a user who are new to crypto. But that only makes the process more interesting.

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[-] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago

oh that sounds co-

nevermind, putting an entry fee on this limits its use and reach completely. not to mention the people who would actually enjoy this are pretty anti crypto shit, rightly, lmao

[-] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

Yeah, I'm an academic librarian and there's no way I'm suggesting someone have anything to do with crypto, even to get research papers. There are other ways.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

But the most important is that publishers will charge for access to the same paper again and again. Sci-Net will only do that once when paper is uploaded and after that, it will remain free forever and for everyone -- even users who are not registered on the platform will be able to access it.

I'm unclear on what this means/how it's implemented but it sounds more promising than I initially thought? If this is all just another way to funnel fresh articles that are inaccessible via the old methods into scihub for all to download, fine. At least it's a proof of stake crypto and not burning tons of fossil fuels to accomplish this. I still think its gross, but maybe it could turn out to be practical. And it certainly seems less fraught with legal risk than conducting a bounty system in regular fiat currency

But otoh the fact that it isn't clear to me where the articles go isn't a great sign.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

missed that part, thanks for pointing it out

that just makes me confused how it's different than any other archive and how it's not gonna be taken down tbh

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's not different to any other archive in that regard, it will be targeted for takedown. The goal seems to be solely to monetarily incentivise uploads with a one time reward for doing so, which then becomes a free for all accessible paper? That's how I'm reading it.

If it works then cool. I suspect there will be a few absolutely massive uploaders who scrape and upload for the incentive. Whether that means some things appear that weren't already accessible elsewhere I don't know.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

yeah I don't quite get it either, something still doesn't add up. The behavior from scihub since 2020 has been puzzling. There was some indian court case and that's why they paused new uploads (weird considering that isn't alexandra's jurisdiction or where the domains are I don't think). Some speculate that they thought they could win that case in india and so stopped uploads as a show of compliance to the court.

But I haven't seen any updates newer than 2022 about what's going on legally... And sci-hub still serving up the huge backlog/archive they had thru 2022, which is weird if she's genuinely in legal trouble...

And now this new site... Says the articles are free without signup, but does require a paid signup? And an invitation? Kinda feels like the legal threat has passed and keeping new uploads paused is an attempt to get critical mass of users on the new service (not necessarily to cash out via crypto, but also out of a genuine belief it might solve some of the issues sci-hub had with access to harder to find materials?)

idk what to think overall, still doesn't sit 100% right with me and the radio silence makes it much harder to assume the best

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Oh, neat...oh, gross

this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2025

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