Delhi case against SciHub and LibGen will decide the price of knowledge

The Suno India Show

In December 2020, three academic publishing giants—Elsevier, American Chemical Society and Wiley—moved the Delhi High Court against Sci-Hub and LibGen. These pirate websites make academic papers free for all. Academic publishers do not pay authors and make more profits than tech giants. Developing countries like India cannot afford the bulk of this research and the prices keep rising. India has the second-largest number of Sci-Hub users in the world.

On this episode of The Suno India Show, reporter Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to SciHub founder Alexandra Elbakyan, her lawyer Nilesh Jain, science activist and Newsclick editor Prabir Purkayastha who is an intervenor in the case, and also Suno India editor Menaka Rao who is an avid user of SciHub and LibGen.

Tune in as we explore what this case means for the future of Indian research.

Show notes:

Is the staggeringly profitable business of scientific publishing bad for science? The Guardian
Should Knowledge Be Free? Medlife Crisis
Lawrence Liang: “The Delhi University Photocopy Case”

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