requesting copies of published academic papers

[daijobu]

Is it normal for some regular person (like me) to email the author of a paper and ask for a pdf copy?  Or maybe a hard copy in the mail?  Is there a standard language or verbiage to use?  Should I direct the email directly to the researcher or to his/her admin?  

 

Thank you!  

[hornblower]

There was a long thread on twitter about this among some academics I follow & they LOVED being asked for copies.  I'd go directly to the researcher if you have their email. 

you can also go on Academia https://www.academia.edu/ 

 

Dd used Academia  for an anthropology paper she was working on last year because she was following up on some research that she just couldn't access anywhere (it was from a German scholar working on a site in Libya) and got almost instant replies with tons of stuff. The guy was *delighted* to help. 

Edited May 25, 2016 by hornblower

[rlestina]

Yes, entirely normal.  Nowadays they are most likely to send you an email or a link to where it may be on a web site, but back when I was a researcher, I used to get letters/postcards asking for copies of papers. 

 

I'd send it directly to the researcher.  If they have an admin (not always true), the admin will be reviewing their mail anyway, or they'll just forward it on.  Most researchers are flattered when people want their work.  :)

[rwilk]

My DH has several academic publications, and is always happy to send over a PDF of his paper.  He typically doesn't have a hard copy available. 

[daijobu]

There was a long thread on twitter about this among some academics I follow & they LOVED being asked for copies.  I'd go directly to the researcher if you have their email. 

 

 

Seriously?  That's pretty funny to me because I thought they wouldn't want to be bothered by some lay person, lol, pestering them.  This is very good to know!  

[daijobu]

dp. 

 

Edited May 25, 2016 by daijobu

[hornblower]

Just to add - one thing that was mentioned in that twitter thread was that many people don't realize the academics & researchers don't lose any money if you don't buy access to the journals. They don't get royalties on their publications - unlike people who write articles for commercial magazines or book authors. For those people, when you ask for free copies, you're affecting their income. But that's not true for academic publishing. 

[hornblower]

Seriously?  That's pretty funny to me because I thought they wouldn't want to be bothered by some lay person, lol, pestering them.  This is very good to know!  

 

Well, I'm guessing it varies from person to person & how popular their work is & how much they get 'bugged'. 

 

And that was a self-selected sample & pretty biased as they're academics who have chosen to be on twitter & interact with the public, kwim? 

 

But their view was very much the "hey, we *want* our research to matter to regular people & if someone is taking an interest, it's awesome...."

 

They did not like lazy students asking them to answer tedious questions or do their assignments/research for them. But if you were genuinely interested or just wanted a copy of something, they were happy to help. There's also a move to make more research open source.

 

(the Academia site made dd laugh because over a year later dd still gets updates* from her German scholar. She was joking - dude, you're starting to look a bit needy. Read my paper. Please! :D   

 

*it's just auto generated updates on when that author publishes or uploads new material but still made her laugh.) 

[hsmom08]

You may already know this, but the researcher you contact is the last person listed.  They are the principle investigators who came up with the idea and the first person listed is usually the graduate or post-doctoral student who did the most work to get the paper published.

 

 

[hornblower]

that really depends on the field. In some fields it's common to list all authors alphabetically. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_authorship

[Brad S]

Many journals list the contact person who is, obviously, the person to contact.  It varies a lot by field, but I would first try to contact the first author.  While the last author is sometimes the principal investigator, it's sometimes the person least central to the paper and sometimes the lab director or doctoral student's advisor (who may have come up with the idea if the work was done as part of the work for the doctorate).  You can, of course, try to search for the article online, and get the article that way, but sometimes only a "working paper" or only the version originally submitted for journal peer review is available publicly online; the author will almost always send you a single copy of the final version.

[Arcadia]

It is normal.

Email the researcher.

If there is company specific info in the paper, or if the paper is published behind a paywall, then the person may not be at liberty to give away.

 

For example tech conference papers, the copy that make it to the flash drive/CD for distribution has been checked for privacy and potential leakage of commercial info. The presentation slides may have more details but those aren't cleared for circulation. Smartphone taping aren't allowed for some conferences under honor code.

[Guest]

I think most people LOVE to talk about their research, so I would be flattered, not annoyed! And I definitely concur- the author listings vary dependent on field. Sometimes first author is the prestige spot, sometimes it's last. 

[regentrude]

You may already know this, but the researcher you contact is the last person listed.  They are the principle investigators who came up with the idea and the first person listed is usually the graduate or post-doctoral student who did the most work to get the paper published.

 

This is not necessarily true. The paper can be a collaboration of equally ranked professors listed in alphabetical order or in order of size of contribution.