access research papers for free reddit

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Ways to get free and legal access to research papers as a researcher

I’ve discovered that website like ResearchGate offer the possibility to ask the paper editor to provide his paper for free. Many are collaborating.

Are there any other ways for researchers to obtain free access to papers?

• publications

• 4 Research library... –  keshlam Commented Aug 21, 2015 at 11:50
• 3 @keshlam: I don't have access to any research library I fear :( - but it would be nice to find any forum and ask people to download the paper and send to me. –  Revious Commented Aug 21, 2015 at 13:10
• 4 @Revious That would break the licence that the person who downloaded the paper is bound by. –  MJeffryes Commented Aug 21, 2015 at 13:40
• 2 @MJeffryes: ok, this means it cannot be done publicly. But p2p and streaming are very spread realities and it's completely legal to say they exist. I wonder if there is something similar for research papers. This comment is legal, but if it's not welcome mod can delete it. –  Revious Commented Aug 21, 2015 at 13:53
• 16 It is completely unclear how many papers at ResearchGate are available legally . It is also completely unclear whether I should care. –  JeffE Commented Aug 21, 2015 at 15:32

4 Answers 4

I always use the following methods to get many inaccessible papers.

• Open Google Scholar.
• Search the title of the paper.
• Click see all versions (you can see many places where the same paper is available)
• Check one by one whether they are downloadable

Another method, I always use when I really need an inaccessible paper, is just to write an e-mail to the corresponding author to send that paper. My experience is that I have always received the paper in a return email.

• 2 Our university has better access than I do at home, too. You may be able to check if your institution has some sort of access (at home I can VPN onto campus). Depends on where OP is searching at. –  enderland Commented Aug 21, 2015 at 15:45
• You are right. It is really good if a institute has access to a large number of journals. But what about those journals to which the same institute has no access. So it is natural to face difficulties while downloading an essential paper from such journals. That is why I have mentioned inaccessible paper... –  Kay Commented Aug 21, 2015 at 16:10
• 2 The other thing you can do is go through a university library -- try to get yourself some sort of position or student status (could be as an unmatriculated student, could be an online course). –  aparente001 Commented Aug 21, 2015 at 20:36
• 2 @Kayan - Sorry, I only just refreshed the page and saw your comment. The solution in that case is Interlibrary Loan . –  aparente001 Commented Aug 21, 2015 at 20:37
• 1 It will be nice to see some screenshots here –  Ooker Commented Aug 22, 2015 at 6:13

It turns out that a related survey was posted last year in this PLOS blog post on how paleontologists access the (non-open access) literature :

I put together an informal, non-scientific survey. The survey asked questions about how people access the literature, the kinds of journals they can access most easily, and basic demographics. I advertised the survey via Twitter and Facebook. I wouldn’t count it as a scientific sample by any means, but I do feel that I got reasonably good coverage of various types of paleontologists at various types of institutions (as well as non-paleontologists who follow the literature). 115 individuals responded, during the course of about a week.

Note that it doesn't indicate the legality.

FYI: Bulk download Sci-Hub papers

The website mentioned here is obviously and blatantly illegal, but gives access to almost all journals ever published. It's very easy to use and more complete than our direct subscriptions. I might almost use it for stuff I have legal but slow access to.

Use or do not use depending on your views on the "illegal" consumption of research.

• 1 As the "illegal" consumption of research increases, this may hurt the editors, the publishers, and even the researchers themselves. ❧ I would downvote you if I had enough reputation points. –  unforgettableidSupportsMonica Commented Apr 21, 2017 at 3:59
• 9 Let's be a bit realistic here: maybe the purchasing of individual articles accounts for 1% of the publisher's revenue. How is that going to hurt me as a researcher? It's not like I'm getting paid for reviewing or editing anyway. –  VonBeche Commented Apr 21, 2017 at 7:23
• A) 1%? Citation needed. B) Researchers depend upon publishers. When publishers get hurt, so do researchers, indirectly. –  unforgettableidSupportsMonica Commented Sep 28, 2017 at 6:58
• 6 A) That's why I write maybe. Maybe it's more, maybe it's less. Either way, not a lot. B) I don't depend on publishers, publishers depend on me. When all the closed access only publishers disappear, we still have all the open access guys left, as well as things like Arxiv and whatever will take the place of Nature. Don't forget that a lot of Journals are not published by companies like Elsevier, but by associations or societies that could run on other sources of income. –  VonBeche Commented Oct 3, 2017 at 15:31

Ask your public library (maybe not a local branch, but a large city's one). In some places, libraries are able to help citizens access journals. Another option might be national libraries - eg the British Library.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for browse other questions tagged publications journals publishers ..

• Featured on Meta
• Upcoming sign-up experiments related to tags

Hot Network Questions

• How can I enable read only mode in microSD card
• Weapon in The Peacemaker
• Why can't I conserve mass instead of moles and apply ratio in this problem?
• Is our consciousness evidence of the existence of a true ontology that underlies many "conventional" ontologies?
• Familiar senses outside of a turn order
• A class for students who want to get better at a subject, aside from their public education
• How to turn a desert into a fertile farmland with engineering?
• What is the translation of lawfare in French?
• A chess engine in Java: generating white pawn moves
• Did James Madison say or write that the 10 Commandments are critical to the US nation?
• Is this professor being unnecessarily harsh or did I actually make a mistake?
• What actual purpose do accent characters in ISO-8859-1 and Windows 1252 serve?
• Co-authors with little contribution
• Idiom for a situation where a problem has two simultaneous but unrelated causes?
• Could Kessler Syndrome be used to control the temperature of the Earth?
• Derivative of the Score Function in Fisher Information
• Is FDISK /MBR really undocumented, and why?
• Short story about a boy living on a fake tropical island / paradise planet, who was actually an adult CEO but didn't remember it
• How does the router know to send packets to a VM on bridge mode?
• Is "parse out" actually a phrasal verb, and in what context do you use "parse"
• What gets to be called a "proper class?"
• Does John 14:13 mean if we literally pray for anything God will act?
• Impact of high-power USB-C chargers on Li-ion battery longevity
• Isn't it problematic to look at the data to decide to use a parametric vs. non-parametric test?

• svg]:stroke-accent-900">

How to get past paywalls and read scientific studies

By Whitson Gordon

Posted on Oct 23, 2019 9:37 PM EDT

4 minute read

Popular Science stories often link directly to scientific studies. You can get all the information you need from the articles themselves, and even more from these links, but if you get the urge to investigate further—perhaps to see the data for yourself—you’ll want to read the study firsthand. Unfortunately, many academic papers are hidden behind expensive paywalls.

There’s a lot to say about the academic research industry, but many believe scientific studies should be freely available to the public . Even if you find a paper that’s hidden behind a paid subscription, there are ways to get it for free—and we’re not talking about piracy. Often, the study you’re looking for may be freely, legally available elsewhere, if you know how to find it.

Google (Scholar) it

Don’t get discouraged just because one database says you need to pay for a specific study. Search for the title of the study (or a portion of the title with an author’s last name) on Google Scholar , the Google-powered search engine for academic literature. If you’re lucky, you’ll see a result with an [html] or [pdf] link on the right-hand side of the page, which should link you to the full text of the study.

If for some reason the right sidebar link doesn’t work, you can also click the “All 11 versions” link at the bottom of each result block to see more sites that offer the paper. You could also try searching regular ol’ Google for the paper’s title, perhaps with the filetype:PDF operator as part of your search terms. This may help you find it on sites that aren’t crawled by Google Scholar.

Use browser extensions to your advantage

If you’re a journalist, student, or science nerd who finds yourself regularly hunting for full-text articles, you can streamline the process a bit with a browser extension called Unpaywall . It works with Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, and displays a small padlock icon on the right side of your browser window whenever you visit a page dedicated to a scholarly article. If there’s a paywall and the padlock is green, that means Unpaywall found a free version somewhere on the web, and you can click the icon to visit it immediately. In my experience, this doesn’t find much more beyond a Google Scholar search, but it’s a lot easier than performing manual searches all the time. Heck, even if a site isn’t paywalled, Unpaywall’s green icon is still easier than hunting for the “Download PDF” button on a given page.

A tool called Open Access Button does something similar. It’s browser-agnostic and has been around for a bit longer, so try both tools and see which you like better. I think Unpaywall feels a bit smoother, but Open Access Button’s maturity may help you find things Unpaywall doesn’t know about yet.

Check your local library

Many public libraries subscribe to academic databases and share those subscriptions with their constituents. You may have to head to the library’s physical location to get a library card, if you don’t have one already, but those are usually free or cheap. And from then on, you should be able to access a lot of your library’s resources right from your computer at home, including scholarly journals (not to mention other paywalled magazines like Consumer Reports). If your library doesn’t have access to the publication you’re looking for, they may even be able to get it through an inter-library loan . If you ever feel lost, don’t hesitate to ask a librarian—they probably know the process like the back of their hand, and will do their best to help you find what you’re looking for.

If you’re a student, your school or university likely has access to more databases than you can shake a stick at (not to mention hordes of physical journals you can hunt through). If you aren’t a student but have a college nearby, ask them if they offer fee-based library cards—you may be able to pay for in-house access to their vast resources.

Email the study’s author

Finally, if you can’t find a paper anywhere online, you might be able to get it directly from one of the people who wrote it. The money earned by those paywalls doesn’t go to the researchers—it goes to the publisher, so authors are often happy to give you a copy of their paper for free (provided they’re allowed to do so).

Finding their current email address is the hard part. Papers will often contain an email address you can contact for questions, but if this becomes out of date, you’ll have to do a little hunting. Find the university or organization the researcher currently works for, not the one they worked for when the study was first published. A little Googling can usually point you in the right direction, but sites like ResearchGate and LinkedIn can also help. Some researchers have a personal website that may be up to date, as well, and in some cases, may even have their previous work available to download. But if not, shoot them a message, ask politely if they’d be willing to send you a copy, and thank them for their hard work.

Latest in Tech Hacks

5 places to listen to free audiobooks 5 places to listen to free audiobooks.

By David Nield

How to customize screensavers on your TV How to customize screensavers on your TV

May 30, 2023

Websites for pirated research papers, during my research, i found various reddit discussions that addressed the issue of accessing pirated research papers and alternative methods to find them. there was a general consensus among reddit users that websites like sci-hub, researchgate, and arxiv.org provide access to research papers for free, although some users cautioned against using sci-hub due to ethical and legal concerns . users also suggested alternative methods like using open access button, reaching out to authors directly, and searching for papers on authors' research group websites . overall, the sources were quite related to the original query, and my uncertainty is relatively low given the information provided in these discussions..

Contributors

Jump to research

Composed by

Anonymous Puppy

Version history

Anonymous Puppy, 394d ago

Have an opinion? Send us proposed edits/additions and we may incorporate them into this article with credit.

Preferred Methods to Access Research Papers

"Don’t neglect ResearchGate either. That’s a free and 100% legal avenue where researchers post their own work."

"Try arXiv.org as well, they host papers for free."

"I use Researchgate and CiteSeer as well as scihub, libgen and arxiv.org"

Alternative Methods to Access Research Papers

"I only use sci-hub if all else fails, but it usually is able to find anything not accessible through usual means. Especially handy for more obscure articles from pre 90’s, since most library licenses don’t go back so far. Just to add, I use a chrome extension called “Open access button” which will check if any (legal) OA version of the paper exists when you are on the web version."

"Regardless, sci-hub is the resource I use, and it’s done well by me for over half a decade now."

Pirated Research Paper Websites

"I only know of Sci-Hub and then /r/Scholar. I have only used the Scholar subreddit once after I couldn't find my article on Sci-Hub, but I got the paper I needed rather quickly."

"Nexus is the best way right now. Their [telegram bots](https://twitter.com/the_superpirate/status/1621818918292561920) have almost all articles up to date., especially Elsevier. paste DOI and Single click, done."

Ethical and Legal Concerns

Conclusions, jump to top, "public access: the pros and cons of open-access publishing".

Not used in article

"[D] Thoughts on IEEE Access as a journal?"

"what is your opinion about open access journals", "(pdf) piracy: a threat to academicians and publishers - researchgate", "is downloading really stealing the ethics of digital piracy", "(pdf) legality and ethics of web scraping - researchgate", "lpt: when looking for more reliable, professional sources for academic writing. try adding pdf on the end of your search", "how can i gain access to scholarly articles for free to use as sources for a paper".

Here are my notes:

• Reddit thread from 3 years ago with 11 points discussing the issue of gaining access to scholarly articles for free, particularly for academic research papers.
• Users suggest various tools to access scholarly articles for free, including Google Scholar, DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine), and gen.lib.rus.ec (Scientific Articles). These tools can help search for Open Access publications and find PDFs of articles that are not paywalled.
• Another user suggests talking to librarians about remote access options, particularly if one is part of a university.
• Other suggestions include looking for specific OA journals and even reaching out to authors directly for access. Various academic databases, like the ones available through university libraries, may also be helpful for those affiliated with an institution.
• The legality of some of these methods are questioned by some users, including Sci-hub and other tools that may involve non-legal means.
• Many users express gratitude for the suggestions provided, indicating that the issue of accessing scholarly articles for free is more widespread than one may think.

"Access to published articles for free from journals such as Nature?"

Unfortunately, since this is a Reddit post with over 30 comments and replies, summarizing this page in 400 words without losing important information would be difficult. Nonetheless, the main points that I see as relevant to the query are:

• Various websites allow users to access research papers for free, including Sci-Hub, ResearchGate, arXiv.org, MedRXiv, and bioRxiv.
• Different Reddit users suggest different methods to access the papers, including pasting the URL or DOI of the article on sci-hub or searching for the article directly on the site; using an Open Access button extension for Chrome to check if an open-access version of the article exists or a PaperPanda Chrome extension to automatically find a full-text copy of the article; visiting the author’s research group website to access their posted research for free or reaching out to the author directly to request a copy.
• Users mention that they prefer accessible sources over Sci-Hub, but resort to it when no other option is available. Some caution users to prioritize checking whether an open-access version of the paper is available and to reach out to authors first before using Sci-Hub.
• Elsevier, a publishing company, receives extensive criticism in the discussion for their predatory fees and poorly-designed manuscript submission pages.
• Users suggest that library subscriptions may provide free access to certain articles, but access is typically limited to certain journals and depending on the affiliation of the individual.
• Some users caution that preprints - versions of papers that have not yet been peer-reviewed - may have errors that are not caught yet, so users should take the extra step to fact-check those papers.
• Extension authors commend the Unpaywall extension that displays a link to an unpaywalled version of the paper when the user is on a journal page.
• Users discuss the struggles of submitting papers, including experiencing errors and difficult interactions with publishers, and the frustration of high fees.
• Some users provide helpful tips like checking Google Scholar for free versions of papers or using archive.is to access the internet archive version of blocked URLs.

"Home - Free Legal Research Resources - Harvard Library Guides"

"7 ways to access journal articles without breaking the bank - bitesize bio", "📌 here are some sites where you can find sources and references for your review of related literature (rrl) in research and the most powerful academic search engines for references".

• The webpage provides a list of websites where resources and references for research can be found, including various academic search engines.
• The list includes links to websites like PDFDrive, Global ETD Search, Theses.fr, Springer Link, OhioLINK, Lib Guides Community, DOAJ, BASE, Eric, Infotopia, Google Scholar, Refseek, The Virtual LRC, SweetSearch, and DeepDyve.
• PDFDrive is described as a source for over 205 million books for direct download in all disciplines.
• Global ETD Search Engine provides access to over 4 million PDF studies.
• Theses.fr is a scientific database of theses and diaries for students and researchers.
• Springer Link is a website that provides access to paid researches and books for free.
• OhioLINK provides access to more than 65,000 master’s and Ph.D. theses that can be read and downloaded.
• Lib Guides Community is a website that offers research and exploration service over 318,968 research guides supervised by over 53,731 librarians in 3,856 libraries worldwide.
• DOAJ allows you to download more than 9,000 respectable court scientific journals for free.
• BASE is one of the world’s most massive search engines especially for open electronic scientific sources.
• Eric is an online digital library of education research and information, providing easy access to educational resources to support their use in improving learning and teaching practices, educational decision-making, and research.
• Infotopia is a research engine for students that provides information and an archive of art sites and topics, history, social sciences, issues, and community problems.
• Google Scholar is a scientific researcher from Google that offers an easy way to research on a large scale in scientific material. It allows users to search through many disciplines and sources like articles, university letters, books, summaries, and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional associations, and other sites.
• Refseek is a search engine dedicated to students and researchers that categorizes more than a billion subjects, including web pages, books, encyclopedia, magazines, and newspapers.
• The Virtual LRC is an indexing system of thousands of the best academic information sites, selected by teachers and libraries around the world, to provide students and teachers with the proper information for academic projects for schools and universities.

SweetSearch is a website that helps students quickly collect information, identifying the most relevant findings from a credible resource list and facilitates them to find initial sources away from unwanted sites and marginal sites that lack academic rigor.

"internet archive scholar", "14 websites to download research paper for free – 2023", "a researcher’s complete guide to open access papers", "eight ways (and more) to find and access research papers", "what is the best way to find research papers".

• Title of Reddit thread: “What is the best way to find research papers?”
• Posted 7 years ago under subreddit “scientificresearch”
• User asks for help in finding free or cheaper scientific research papers
• Reddit user suggests using Google Scholar as a way of finding free, full-text research articles
• They provide instructions on how to find full-text articles on Google Scholar using the “All 5 versions” link and how to use regular Google search to find non-academic sites that carry an article
• Other Reddit users provide additional free databases such as PubMed Central, BioMed Central, Science Direct, Public Library of Science (PLoS), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Directory of Open Access Repositories (Open DOAR), HighWire, OCLC World Catalog, Social Science Research Network, Microsoft Academic Search, Mendeley, and Science.gov
• Under each database listed, the user provides a brief description of what each one offers and what fields of study they cover
• Some Reddit users suggest finding an email address for the author and asking for the article directly or using a friend’s login to access restricted content
• One user suggests enrolling in a local community college to get access to some databases or connecting to their Wi-Fi for access
• Another user suggests using “Mendeley” to manage research and find free full-text articles

"The 8 <b>Best Open Access Journal Sites</b> for Students "

"21 legit research databases for free journal articles in 2022", "i made a list of academic research websites, i hope you find some helpful.", "ethical challenges in accessing participants at a research site", "federal privacy protections: ethical ... - ama journal of ethics", "is downloading pirated games illegal", "what is a pirated game what are the differences between it and the actual game", "accessing elsevier papers".

• Paywalls and accessing research papers can be a frustrating experience for students and researchers.
• Elsevier is a journal publisher that makes contributions and access to science expensive, especially for those who are financially-pressed, leading to difficulty accessing many relevant papers in the field.
• Various methods are discussed for overcoming this hurdle, ranging from emailing researchers directly to requesting inter-library loans.
• One Redditor comments that researchers are generally eager to share their papers for free.
• Other suggestions include reaching out to a researcher via social media, or asking for help on Twitter or Reddit via the “icanhazpdf” hashtag or /r/scholar subreddit.
• Some users recommend using platforms like Sci-Hub or Library Genesis, which offer access to a vast repository of research papers.
• However, these platforms often face legal issues.
• Other comments suggest checking authors’ personal websites for archived versions of papers or even emailing the authors to ask for a copy of the paper.
• Some users also recommend finding connections at other universities who may have access to the desired journal.
• Another option is to search for pre-prints or draft copies of the papers on platforms such as Arxiv or BioArxiv.
• One Redditor commented that librarians are often very helpful in finding hard-to-acquire papers via inter-library loans.
• It is noted that there are some ethical considerations when deciding to use pirated versions of research papers.
• A discussion is also present regarding the legal issues surrounding paywalls, with some noting that accessing publicly funded research being published behind paywalls should not be considered piracy.
• Some individuals have organized to establish their own alternative publishing methods, as highlighted in the resignation and formation of a new journal by the editorial board of Journal of Combinatorial Theory Ser. A.
• Some specific websites recommended for accessing research papers include Sci-Hub (now blocked in many countries), Library Genesis, ResearchGate, Google Scholar, Arxiv and BioArxiv, among others.
• Others cautioned that some of these sites are not reliable and may carry risks such as malware.
• Overall, there are a variety of options available for accessing research papers that require subscriptions.

"Publication ethics: Role and responsibility of authors"

"pirate research-paper sites play hide-and-seek with publishers", "ethical challenges in online research: public/private perceptions", "is it unethical or illegal to cite papers obtained through sci-hub or libgen".

• The webpage is a thread on Reddit titled “Is it unethical or illegal to cite papers obtained through Sci-hub or Libgen?” and was posted 4 years ago on the subreddit r/AskAcademia.
• The thread has 7 points and contains 12 comments as of the time it was posted.
• Some commenters in the thread argued that it is unethical and potentially illegal to use research papers obtained through websites like Sci-hub and Libgen because it violates copyright law.
• Others argued that the high cost of accessing research and the fact that many authors are happy to share copies of their work justifies the use of these websites.
• One user who identified themselves as a librarian stated that while the high cost of academic publishing is unethical, users should do their best to obtain free versions of research papers before obtaining them through sites like Sci-hub and Libgen.
• This user also suggested using tools like Open Access Button to find freely available copies of research before resorting to these websites.
• Another commenter stated that they would be flattered if someone obtained their work illegally because it meant that their research was valuable.
• Several commenters suggested that pirating research through websites like Sci-hub and Libgen was necessary for individuals living in countries without access to academic resources.
• Some users argued that the academic publishing industry itself is unethical and unfair to the public because it puts taxpayer-funded research behind paywalls and sells it back to the public.
• One user joked that it was unethical to cite books they returned to the library on time.
• Overall, the thread highlights the controversial nature of using sites like Sci-hub and Libgen to obtain research papers and the varied opinions on the ethical implications of doing so in the academic community.

"ELI5: How a company can 'catch' you for pirating"

"besides sci-hub, does anyone know where else i can get a pirated article".

• One Reddit user suggests /r/Scholar and has used it successfully once after Sci-Hub did not have the paper. (Karma: 24)
• Another user suggests using Nexus and their Telegram bots for articles, especially those from Elsevier. (Karma: 1)
• A third user recommends checking with the librarian at one’s college, contacting authors, posting on Twitter with the hashtag #ICanHazPDF, and using LibGen. (Karma: 18)
• One user has never gotten a response from an author before. (Karma: 2)
• Another suggests checking out Filepursuit and posting the DOI or link on Reddit. (Karma: 3)
• A user recommends using the Unpaywall browser extension to see if the paper is available for free on other sites. (Karma: 2)
• Arxiv.org is recommended as a source of free pre-reviewed articles by another user. (Karma: 2)
• Wosonhj.com is suggested for those who cannot find articles on Sci-Hub. (Karma: 1)
• LibGen is mentioned multiple times as a resource for books and papers. (Karma: 1, 1)
• ResearchGate and CiteSeer are also suggested for requesting papers from authors. (Karma: 1, 1)
• Someone asks for help accessing a specific research paper. (Karma: 1)
• One user reiterates that paying for a scientific article is unnecessary. (Karma: 2)
• Another user confirms that the response rate on ResearchGate is good. (Karma: 1)

"Open Access Versus Traditional Publishing - Amnet EnableOA"

"pros and cons of traditional and open access publishing", "sci-hub&#39;s cache of pirated papers is so big, subscription ... - aaas".

💭   Looking into

Comparison between Open Access and traditional subscription-based publishing models

Advantages and disadvantages of accessing pirated research papers online

Top 5 most reliable websites to download pirated research papers

Get the Reddit app

An online community for sharing academic works and discussion of issues and events relating to academia and the related political, economical, and social structures. This is NOT the place to ask questions about your homework, your particular school or professors, or to get admission advice! Survey posts must be approved by mods in advance, must include contact/IRB info, and must be specific to academia.

What some of the common reasons research papers are rejected?

I'm submitting my ever first research paper to a journal. Though, my college professor okayed my article, I'd love to know some of the common review comments/mistakes you make so I can make those corrections before submitting. It took a lot of work to get this paper done and I really want this to work.

This New Browser Plug-in Lets You Access Millions of Scientific Papers For Free

If you're of the mindset that knowledge should be freely accessible to as many humans as possible, paywalls for academic journals can be downright frustrating. Now a free browser extension is promising to bust through those paywalls wherever possible.

Unpaywall was launched earlier this month by the open source not-for-profit Impactstory – funded by the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation – and it's already making a splash in the traditional publishing industry. 

Install the plug-in on your Chrome or Firefox desktop browser, and it will start displaying a little lock symbol whenever you're on the landing page of an article in an academic journal.

If the plug-in can find a freely accessible full-text copy of the paper you're looking at, the lock symbol turns from grey to green, and you can simply click on it to get the PDF. If the lock is gold, the article you're reading already has an open access licence.

Best of all, the full-text copies it serves up are totally legal. 

The plug-in works by scouring a database of over 90 million digital object identifiers (DOIs) , looking for publicly accessible copies of papers on pre-press servers and university websites. This is what sets it apart from the 'pirated' route of the infamous Sci-Hub , which sources the same published content by decidedly greyer methods.

"Unpaywall finds PDFs legally uploaded by the authors themselves, while Sci-Hub uses PDFs that are obtained by other means, including automated web scraping of publisher sites," states the plug-in's website .

"Sci-Hub's method delivers more comprehensive results, but is not super legal."

The plug-in's makers  claim the extension can find full-text versions for "65-85 percent of articles, depending on their topic and year of publication".

When I tried it out on 30 random papers, the lock changed colour for 19 of them, giving me a 63 percent access rating (for a tiny, highly unscientific sample).

But most of those 19 papers turned out to be open access already, and I only got seven papers which would otherwise have been behind a paywall. That being said, it's still a hell of a lot better than nothing.

This approach is not dissimilar to scanning Google Scholar in the hopes it retrieves a PDF somewhere, but it's certainly much more convenient. And the fact that Unpaywall plugs into the growing force of open access licensing means it might actually change how university libraries choose which subscriptions to shell out for.

"For years, libraries have had little expectation that the [open access] deposit of subscription articles would displace subscription access, mainly because locating those articles and providing access to them would be labour-intensive," scholarly communications expert Rick Anderson from the University of Utah told Dalmeet Singh Chawla at Nature .

"By making that process so much easier, Unpaywall could really change the game for us."

Most of us don't have the cash to shell out 30-40 bucks at a time for one paper, so it's no surprise that people have been turning to all these other methods for accessing scientific research - some more legal than others.

And there is increasing support for even the shadier ones, like Sci-Hub. As Fiona Macdonald reported for us last year , it's really not the same as pirating a movie:

"[S]cientists don't actually make any money for publishing their research. While journals can charge anything upwards of US$10,000 per year for a single subscription, researchers have little choice but to submit their work to them if they want to continue to get hired. For the most part, scientists get paid by grant money, which, you guessed it, is usually funded by our tax-payer dollars. So the real argument is this: if we're already paying scientists to do work for the public good, why can't we have access to the results of that work for free?"

With Unpaywall, it's now become easier to do just that.

If you're interested, you can download the extension for Chrome and Firefox here .

“The only truly modern academic research engine”

Oa.mg is a search engine for academic papers, specialising in open access. we have over 250 million papers in our index..

Help | Advanced Search

Computer Science > Computation and Language

Title: hallucination-free assessing the reliability of leading ai legal research tools.

Abstract: Legal practice has witnessed a sharp rise in products incorporating artificial intelligence (AI). Such tools are designed to assist with a wide range of core legal tasks, from search and summarization of caselaw to document drafting. But the large language models used in these tools are prone to "hallucinate," or make up false information, making their use risky in high-stakes domains. Recently, certain legal research providers have touted methods such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) as "eliminating" (Casetext, 2023) or "avoid[ing]" hallucinations (Thomson Reuters, 2023), or guaranteeing "hallucination-free" legal citations (LexisNexis, 2023). Because of the closed nature of these systems, systematically assessing these claims is challenging. In this article, we design and report on the first preregistered empirical evaluation of AI-driven legal research tools. We demonstrate that the providers' claims are overstated. While hallucinations are reduced relative to general-purpose chatbots (GPT-4), we find that the AI research tools made by LexisNexis (Lexis+ AI) and Thomson Reuters (Westlaw AI-Assisted Research and Ask Practical Law AI) each hallucinate between 17% and 33% of the time. We also document substantial differences between systems in responsiveness and accuracy. Our article makes four key contributions. It is the first to assess and report the performance of RAG-based proprietary legal AI tools. Second, it introduces a comprehensive, preregistered dataset for identifying and understanding vulnerabilities in these systems. Third, it proposes a clear typology for differentiating between hallucinations and accurate legal responses. Last, it provides evidence to inform the responsibilities of legal professionals in supervising and verifying AI outputs, which remains a central open question for the responsible integration of AI into law.

Submission history

Access paper:.

• HTML (experimental)
• Other Formats

References & Citations

• Google Scholar
• Semantic Scholar

BibTeX formatted citation

Bibliographic and Citation Tools

Code, data and media associated with this article, recommenders and search tools.

• Institution

arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators

arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website.

Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them.

Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs .

June 26, 2024

Is arbitration an effective method of industrial dispute resolution – indian perspective, prof (dr). j vijayalakshmi llm, ph.d.

naruecha jenthaisong via Getty Images

Introduction

Harmonious industrial relation is based on the mutual adjustment between labour and management and their organisation. It is a changing process wherein an industrial system which is in ‘conflict’ changes into cooperation after the resolution of industrial dispute. The socialist welfare state aims to ensure social justice by promoting industrial harmony, which in turn enhances job opportunities and boosts productivity in producing goods and services to fulfill people's needs and desires. Consequently, maintaining industrial peace is crucial for establishing and upholding industrial democracy. The enactment of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, reflects this objective by facilitating the investigation and settlement of conflicts within the industrial sector. One method of resolving labour disputes besides collective bargaining that helps to settle labor disputes amicably is voluntary arbitration. This research paper makes an attempt to analyse the working pattern of arbitration in order to evaluate its role and to identify whether arbitration is an effective method of resolving industrial dispute.

Concept of Industrial Relations

In ‘industrial relations’ there is no instant or ready-made method for resolving the industrial disputes and it could not be imported from outside also. Due to the technological advancement and scientific methods of production, the production processes have become very complicated as well as complex. It is also very crucial to understand the problems of human relations in management. All of the ties that exist in today's industrial society are encompassed within the broad idea of industrial relations.

Prof. Lester explains the dimension of the term industrial relations as follows:

“The term ‘industrial relations’ includes not only the dealing between labour organisations and industrial management but also all aspects of labour …. Including wages, productivity, employment security, management’s employment practices, union policies and governmental action on labour matters .”

Problems of Industrial Relations and Industrial Disputes

‘Dispute’ is one of the features of industrial relations and acquires specific and concrete subject matter between employer and workers. It is the outcome of conflicts between the demands and objectives of employers and employees. The important causes of industrial disputes :

Economic causes, Methods of production and physical working conditions, Terms of employment, Institutional i.e., relating to recognition of union, bargaining unit, unfair practices, etc. Psychological, and Denial of legal and contractual rights.

Machinery for Settlement of Industrial Disputes

One of the most important feature of the Industrial Disputes Act is to foster harmony within the industrial sector by offering mechanisms to prevent and address conflicts between labour and management in India. Three-dimensional processes conciliation, voluntary arbitration and adjudication are provided by the Industrial Disputes Act.

Conciliation

It is a familiar method and a persuasive process for resolution of industrial disputes. In this method, a third neutral party serves as a mediator by providing a provision for conciliation officer and to promote the settlement of industrial dispute. The competent Government may designate a conciliation officer under Section 4 of the ‘Industrial Disputes Act’. This officer may be designated for one or more specific industries, for a specific area, or for a designated industry within a specified territory. The Act confers wider powers and imposes duties for mediating and promoting amicable settlement of industrial dispute .

If the parties involved in a dispute come to an agreement, the conciliation officer presents a report along with the 'memorandum of settlement,' which has been signed by all concerned parties. The conciliation officer must provide the report within 14 days of commencing the conciliation process, or sooner if directed by the relevant authority. If no agreement is reached, the officer must submit a failure report detailing the specific reasons and details contributing to the lack of success.

Board of Conciliation

Boards are favoured over conciliation officers for resolving intricate disputes that demand specialized attention. The ‘appropriate government’ may establish an ad hoc board of conciliation specifically for a particular labour dispute. The Industrial Disputes Act gives the board the authority to adopt any method it deems appropriate to ensure that the conciliation mechanism used to resolve the industrial dispute operates successfully. The ‘appropriate Government’ refers the disagreement to the board of conciliation, which then looks into all related issues. The primary role of the board is to aid the involved parties in achieving a fair and amicable resolution.

Once the disputed parties reach a settlement, the Board is responsible for sending a report along with the signed agreement. The report must be submitted within two months from the beginning of the proceedings, or in a shorter duration if specified by the appropriate government authority. If the parties fail to reach an agreement, the Board must submit a report detailing the facts and circumstances that led to the inability to reach a settlement.

Arbitration

The arbitration procedure involves the conflicting parties mutually consenting in written form to refer their labour disagreement to an arbitrator, who acts as an impartial third party. Though the arbitrator does not have any judicial powers, but his decision is binding on the concerned parties. Arbitration gives an opportunity to the disputants to resolve the dispute by a mutually agreed arbitrator . The arbitrator must look into the disagreement and send the arbitration ruling to the ‘appropriate authority’.

Adjudication

The adjudication mechanism serves as the ultimate authority in settling industrial disputes. The ‘appropriate government’ holds the power to refer labour disputes for resolution, regardless of the disputants' consent. The Act offers three tiers of machinery to resolve labour disputes.

Labour Court

Industrial tribunal, national tribunal.

The 'appropriate government' may establish a Labour Court to address disputes listed in the second schedule the Act of 1947. This establishment is initiated by issuing a notice in the official gazette. The matters falls within the jurisdiction of Industrial tribunal has been listed as follows:

• Assessing the appropriateness or legality of an employer's directive issued in accordance with established regulations
• Interpreting and applying Standing Orders
• Handling employee termination or dismissal, including the potential for worker compensation or reinstatement if termination was unjust
• Invalidation of any customary exemption or privilege
• Evaluating the legality or illegality of a strike or lockout
• Addressing issues not outlined in the Third Schedule

As a result, the Labour Court is tasked with resolving a majority of issues related to standing orders, including matters like dismissal, discharge, and reinstatement.

An industrial tribunal may be established by the competent government to settle labor disputes pertaining to any topic covered by the second or third schedules of the Act. The matters fall within the jurisdiction of Industrial tribunal has been listed as follows:

• Wages, together with the timing and method of payment;
• Compensation and additional benefits;
• Work hours and rest periods;
• Bonus, Profit-sharing, Gratuity, and Provident Fund;
• Working shifts in a way that deviates from following standing orders;
• Grading system classification;
• Guidelines for maintaining discipline;
• Improving efficiency;
• Decrease in workforce and facility shutdown; and
• Any additional issue as specified.

The matters covered under the second schedule has already discussed under the jurisdiction of Labour court

The central government is the one who forms the national tribunal. In order to settle labor disputes involving matters of national significance or involving establishments spread across multiple states or likely to be impacted by such disputes, the federal government may establish one or more National Tribunals. The Labour Court and the Industrial Tribunal do not have the authority to make decisions regarding industrial disputes that have been referred to the National Tribunal.

Working pattern of Arbitration under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947

Voluntary arbitration is an additional means of settling labor disputes in the event that conciliation is unsuccessful. The Industrial Disputes Act's Section 10 A offers voluntary arbitration as a substitute remedy. The disputants may, by written agreement, subject a matter to arbitration at any point prior to a dispute being referred under section 10. The arbitrator or board of arbitrators may be selected by the parties.

Requirements of Voluntary Reference of Disputes to Arbitrator

As long as the following requirements are met, the parties may refer to the voluntary arbitrator.

• There must be an existing or anticipated industrial dispute.
• The agreement must be documented.
• The referral must take place before a dispute is presented to a Labor Court, tribunal, or national tribunal in accordance with section 10.
• The arbitrator(s) should be identified by name.

Arbitration Agreement

Arbitration agreements ought to be in written and follow a set format. The agreement must be signed by all parties involved and should incorporate the pertinent written confirmation from the arbitrator or arbitrators. Copies of the agreement should be provided to the conciliation officer and the ‘appropriate government’ authorities. The appropriate government has a fourteen-day period from the date of receiving it to publish the document in the official gazette. If the 'appropriate government' verifies that the representatives referring represent the major part of both employers and employees, individuals not directly involved in the agreement but engaged in the dispute may be allowed to present their case to the arbitrator(s) within one month of being notified. Following an investigation into the disagreement, the arbitrator(s) will then submit the award to the ‘appropriate authorities’, signed by each arbitrator or, if required, by all of them. An umpire must be chosen if the arbitration agreement specifies an equal number of arbitrators. If there is a tie among the arbitrators, the umpire's decision will be taken into account.

Arbitration – A method of achieving industrial peace

The Code of Discipline, 1958 has emphasized the need of invoking voluntary arbitration as an important method on failure of other methods to resolve industrial disputes. In a similar vein, the necessity of voluntary arbitration was emphasized in the 1962 industrial ceasefire settlement. The National Commission on Labour in its first report has outlined factors contributing to the sluggish advancement in voluntary arbitration as follows:

• Quick access to adjudication in the event of unsuccessful negotiation is lacking.
• There exists a deficit of arbitrators who are mutually trusted by the involved parties.
• The absence of established unions capable of enforcing collective agreements among workers is notable.
• It's noteworthy that there is no option for appealing against the arbitrator's decision under the law.
• There is a lack of a streamlined process for voluntary arbitration.
• Parties involved, especially workers, incur significant costs.

Apart from the above, the lack of faith of the parties, responsible for the disuse of the method which are pointed out as follows :

• A legal challenge arises from the fact that there is typically no avenue for appealing the decision of the voluntary arbitrator, except through the writ jurisdiction;
• Difficulty in arriving at the common agreement on the names of the person mutually acceptable at arbitrators.
• Non-availability of such person who could enjoy confidence of both parties as impartial persons and men of integrity.
• Absence of skills and necessary expertise to resolve the dispute to the satisfaction of the rules of law and the parties etc.
• Prompt access to adjudication in the event of unsuccessful negotiations is readily accessible.
• Absence of recognised simplified procedure for voluntary arbitration;
• Lack of recognized trade unions that could force employees to reach consensus
• Cost to the parties, particularly workmen

Good labour relations are essential to the success of overall national development in a modern welfare state. Industrial disputes referred to the adjudication tribunal often take several years to be resolved. The goal of fostering positive workplace interactions will be undermined by this. In the case of Liberty Footwear Company v. Karnal Leather Karamchari Sanghthan, the court while considering the advantages of arbitration over adjudication, it has observed as follows: “It must be recognised that in the modern welfare state, healthy industrial relations are a matter of paramount importance. In attempting to solve industrial disputes, industrial adjudication, therefore, should not be delayed. Voluntary arbitration appears to be the best method for settlement of industrial disputes. The disputes can be resolved speedily and in less than a year, typically in a few months. The Tribunal adjudication of reference under Section 10(1) often drags on for several years, thus defeating the very purpose of the industrial adjudication. Arbitration is also cheaper than litigation with less legal work and no motion practice. It has limited document discovery with quicker hearing and less formal than trials. The greatest advantage of arbitration is that there is no right of appeal, review or writ petition. Besides, it may, as well reduce company’s litigation costs and its potential exposure to ruinous liability apart from redeeming the workmen the workmen from frustration.”

Though there are factors contributing to the slow progress, it will be the better system of redressal of grievances for workmen when it is properly applied in resolving industrial disputes thereby reducing the burden of courts.

Incumbent Director of Legal Studies, TamilNadu

The Incumbent Director of Legal Studies in the State of TamilNadu and the First Woman to adorn this prestigious post in the seventy years of legal education history of the State. Having More than 26 years of Academic experience and specialized in Labour and Administrative Law. Guiding many Ph.D., Scholars and 200 above LL.M., students. Published Research articles in more than 20 National Journals and more than 10 International Journals. Presented Papers in International Conferences which were held in Nepal,Sri Lanka, Turkey and US. Completed her International post-doctoral Research in the topic of "New Technologies and law." Served as Principal of Government Law College, Chengalpattu, first Principal of Chennai Dr. Ambedkar Govt. Law College, Pudupakkam, Government Law College, Vellore and Chennai Dr.Ambedkar Government Law College, Pattaraiperumbudur.

• Section of Dispute Resolution
• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• General Practice

The material in all ABA publications is copyrighted and may be reprinted by permission only. Request reprint permission here.