Research budgets are tight, and many universities are canceling subscriptions to costly online science journals and publications. But papers are the currency of science, and it’s impossible to stay at the top of your field when you can’t find out what your field is doing.

One solution sails between the rock and the hard-place, as scientists and trainees turn to ‘pirated’ articles posted online.

Avast ye scurvy dogs!

Scientists have shared their work since the beginning of scientific discourse, and until very recently, most would order extra copies of their published papers to mail to colleagues around the world. But with the internet and PDFs, that sharing became painless.

As universities cut back on subscriptions, enterprising researchers have turned to Twitter, Reddit, and other online gathering places to “request” papers from those with access. It’s largely illegal and fairly inefficient. But because the network is decentralized, it’s also difficult for publishers to squelch.

Enter websites like Sci-Hub and LibGen – online repositories with a searchable interface and access to tens of millions of scientific articles. These sites navigate through journal paywalls using university .edu proxies and archive all the content they can scrape.

By all accounts, this ‘easy access’ to research is popular: Sci-Hub claimed to receive 200,000 visitors per day in January 2016. Not surprisingly, the publishers who own the content are less than pleased.

Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen!

Elsevier and other publishers have brought lawsuits against Sci-Hub and their ilk in international courts, and seized domain names in an effort to have the content removed. In true piratical fashion, Sci-Hub’s crew have taken the site down only to have it reappear on foreign servers, peer-to-peer networks, and anywhere else the content can be hidden from the law.

The legality of the situation is clear, but the morality is more nuanced than other cases of internet piracy. In this case, restricting access to scientific research slows the pace of discovery, which harms all of us. Are scientists and trainees justified in breaking the law, or should they find creative ways to pay for the content they need?

This week on the show – we explore both sides of this daring, high-seas adventure!

Three sheets to the wind

For ethanol this week, we get tropical with Death By Coconut Irish Porter from Oskar Blues Brewing. It’s surprisingly coconutty, wonderfully chocolatey, and a pretty tasty way to die if you had to pick. Blow me down!