I was recently unable to find a particular journal article I wanted to read that was referenced in something else I was reading. I only could find an abstract on Google Scholar, and nothing at all on Z-lib. I was able to get a full copy by just emailing the author at her university (I guess its true that most of them will give you a PDF if you ask. they are just glad SOMEONE is actually reading their work). But now that I have it, I fell obligated to share it with the world, the question is, where is the best place to put it?
Look at the PDF carefully before sharing it. Most academic publishers put a timestamp on it that reveals who downloaded it, at least at institution level. Sometimes this is even embedded as metadata. If the PDF says anywhere “author personal copy”, please don’t share it on the author’s behalf.
This is mostly to avoid getting them into trouble.
Otherwise, go and share, authors love it!
Have you checked the author doesn’t have it linked on her researchgate or lab website? As in, it might already be available, just not easily searchable.
You can try contacting annas-archive.org
Considering the version you were given by the author could be watermarked in some way, and they could get into shit from a publisher if you uploaded it for mass retrieval, you ought not to do this without their express permission. It’s different if you had downloaded the article from a journal/database yourself, or if it was some other version (like an unformatted manuscript).
They can’t get shit - you can. They’re allowed to give it to people who ask. You’re not allowed to upload it for mass retrieval.
