Data from: Who's downloading pirated papers? Everyone

In increasing numbers, researchers around the world are turning to Sci-Hub, the controversial website that hosts 50 million pirated papers and counting. Now, with server log data from Alexandra Elbakyan, the neuroscientist who created Sci-Hub in 2011 as a 22-year-old graduate student in Kazakhstan, Science addresses some basic questions: Who are Sci-Hub's users, where are they, and what are they reading? The Sci-Hub data provide the first detailed view of what is becoming the world's de facto open-access research library. Among the revelations that may surprise both fans and foes alike: Sci-Hub users are not limited to the developing world. Some critics of Sci-Hub have complained that many users can access the same papers through their libraries but turn to Sci-Hub instead—for convenience rather than necessity. The data provide some support for that claim. Over the 6 months leading up to March, Sci-Hub served up 28 million documents, with Iran, China, India, Russia, and the United States the leading requestors.

全球范围内，越来越多的研究人员正转向Sci-Hub——这一托管了5000万余篇盗版学术论文且数量仍在持续增长的争议性网站。如今，借助2011年由时任哈萨克斯坦22岁研究生、神经科学家亚历山德拉·埃尔巴克扬创建的Sci-Hub所留存的服务器日志数据，《科学》（Science）期刊解答了若干基础问题：Sci-Hub的用户群体构成如何？他们身处何地？又在阅读哪些学术文献？此次Sci-Hub的相关数据，首次详细展现了这个正逐步成为全球事实上的开放获取学术库的平台全貌。其中或令支持者与反对者均感意外的发现包括：Sci-Hub的用户并非仅局限于发展中国家。部分Sci-Hub的批评者曾指出，许多用户本可通过所属机构图书馆获取相同文献，却因便捷性而非必要性转而使用Sci-Hub。此次的数据为这一说法提供了一定佐证。在截至今年3月的6个月内，Sci-Hub共提供了2800万篇文献下载服务，其中伊朗、中国、印度、俄罗斯与美国的请求量位居前列。