#ICanHazPDF is a

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...

used on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

to request access to

academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

articles which are behind

paywall A paywall is a method of restricting access to content (media), content, with a purchase or a subscription business model, paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their website ...

s. It began in 2011 by scientist Andrea Kuszewski. The name is derived from the meme

I Can Has Cheezburger? I Can Has Cheezburger? (abbreviated as ICHC) is a blog-format website which features videos and image macros. It was created in 2007 by Eric Nakagawa and Kari Unebasami. It is one of the most popular Internet sites of its kind, receiving up ...

Process

Users request articles by tweeting an article's title, DOI or other linked information like a publisher's link, their email address, and the hashtag "#ICanHazPDF". Someone who has access to the article might then email it to them. The user then deletes the original tweet. Alternatively, users who do not wish to post their email address in the clear can use direct messaging to exchange contact information with a volunteer who has offered to share the article of interest.

Use and popularity

The practice amounts to

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...

in numerous countries, and so is arguably part of the ' black open access' trend. The majority of requests are for articles published in the last five years, and most users are from English-speaking countries. Requests for biology papers are more common than papers in other fields, despite subscription prices for chemistry, physics, and astronomy being, on average, higher than for biology. Possible reasons for people to use the hashtag include the reluctance of readers to pay for article access and the speed of the process compared to most university

interlibrary loan Inter-library loan (abbreviated ILL, sometimes called document delivery, document supply, inter-lending, inter-library services, inter-loan, or resource sharing) is a service that enables patrons of one library to borrow materials that are held by ...

References

External links

* {{Use dmy dates, date=September 2019 Hashtags Copyright campaigns Academic publishing 2011 introductions

Process

Use and popularity

See also

References

External links