I suppose it is 'possible', but I very much doubt that people who are conscientious enough to make sure they are well-read on their subject of choice, would then decide to falsify results.

So if you are ok with borrowing, is it ok if Satchi reads the paper and makes sure she emails it back to JC? :p

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Actually, that happens very often. Even leading researchers in some fields have, for example, falsified, fabricated, modificated or recalibrated their data..
Not all students or faculty members share the same moral values as the most of us do..



I am afraid that it does not work that way in cyberspace. Technically the copy Satchi sends
back to JC is not the same which she received.. :p

With regard to Phdbug's suggestion of giving me royal ignore, I have to ask is the topic of the thread something which is a taboo and should not be discussed?

I am sorry if people here feel that my postings have been a continuous attack on this community and its members. That was not my intention.

I am doing a criminology-related degree and I am especially interested in deviant behaviour in cyberspace. My research interests lie in the fields of policing (private and public) and security in cyberspace and virtual communities and the illegal delivery of digital content is tightly related to my research interests.

However, I want to point out that I am not doing research here..

I just wanted to discuss the matter in order to hear opinions and find interesting points which I have possibly missed. Research and published articles in this area usually concentrate on the delivery of pirated music, movies and games. The delivery of academic or professional material in social networks seems to be an under-researched topic.. and that's why I have been thinking that it could be a good topic for a research proposal (I have been thinking of applying to postgraduate study for the 2011 intake).

I would n't waste your time ...

does that mean I've been some kind of participant in your research? Can I have a right to withdraw, or even some informed consent would be nice.

Careful, the last PhD Criminology student I heard of was a bit strange http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1282131/PhD-student-Stephen-Griffiths-tells-court-crossbow-cannibal.html

Are we not overlooking the fact that as researchers we are attempting to further the field of human knowledge, therefore information to that extent is nobody's intellectual property as long as it is used for no commercial gain by the individual?

Maybe if we were drug companies or something we should have to pay for this information, but otherwise it should be free, and any attempts to make money from this should be largely circumvented as is currently the case where people give each other journals. Ethically it all makes perfect sense to me.

No. You should read my previous message a little bit more carefully.

Information SHOULD be free. It is interesting how slowly open access journals become respectable sources in academic community.

But should we breach the law (and terms and conditions, and contracts and licences) to make things change?

If we are given an opportunity to select in which journal to publish our papers, do we select a paid journal published by a big company or an internet-based open access journal? I think that many authors will choose the first option. It is paradoxal. We are speaking about free flow of information here but when we have to select between a reputable paid journal with a high impact factor and an unknown free digital open access journal the right to free information has mystically dissappeared from our thoughts.

hi eskobastion
your choice of topic for postgrad research is entirely yours. At 1st degree level some people have not really experienced the difficulties in getting the research material they need. I find it hard to believe that your university will buy you any paper you need (especially when you are a student, just like all of us). Just being honest, as you are yourself.

Anyway I am glad that you have an idea of a postgrad research topic in mind, and wish you the very best for it.

love satchi

I did, but in discussing and collecting information about the topic, I would consider that in some way research. At least you should have perhaps revealed your motives sooner?

Eskobastion,
may I ask you something?
I am doing a part-time PhD in a UK university and I am from Greece (living and working in Greece).
My university does not subscribe to some of the journald that I need. How on earth will I get the necessary papers from my reserach if not by asking other people (whom I wish to call friends, even if we have never met)? Do you think that I should quit my research? Because if I don't have the literature that I need, it is the same as quiting.....

Emmaki, I'd have thought at most universities you can get an interlibrary loan. At mine it costs £2 per article but it gets you things that you could not otherwise get.

I think this is a fairly interesting topic. I've asked friends to get me papers that my Uni does not subscribe to, but I've always thought it was probably in some way wrong. I suspect if you asked someone in the library whether it was ok to send a PDF to a friend at another university they'd tell you it was not ok.

That said .... does anyone have access to this journal.......:p

Then people are conducting a lot of research on this forum! But I haven't seen you asking other people to reveal their motives.
Are you tormenting me just because I raised the issue at hand?

There is a big difference between informal discussions on Internet forums and formal research.

But you are directly discussing information related to your topic of interest. And formally, or informally you are collecting information about our behaviours and opinions on the matter, without declaring (initially) that you are researching (or thinking about researching) the topic. It just seems a little sneaky (and I should know, cos I'm Sneaks).

Eskobastion,

What you seem to be describing is the gateway theory of criminal behaviour. Usually applied to drug use. And usually pretty easily refuted. If it's difficult to find a link between smaller illegal behaviour and larger when addictive substances are involved then it's probably going to be impossible here. No matter how much I want to read a paper I very rarely experience a rush doing so!

You'd be better off looking at things like white collar crime and work place fraud, and the links to opportunity etc. Already heavily researched but much more productive. The basic general findings are that many people will steal from a place of work if given the chance and a certain confluence of events. They don't start small and get bigger but instead are just opportunistic. So you don't have to worry about us moving on from illicit paper use, to whole journals, raiding the British Library and then hold all the first editions to ransom if we don't get the crown jewels and a helicopter.

Incidentally Sneaks is on the money. In certain area's of social science what you've just done, if you were to use any of it in any formal way, would constitute research. Observer participation most probably. There's a whole slew of ethical and legal issues that normally come with that, and the getting permission to actually go ahead and do it.

(For any silent observers in the forum, I do not consent! )

You're making an awfully big assumption there. I know people, myself included, who would avoid publishing in a large popular journal, paid or otherwise, (such as Nature), in favour of a journal we feel best fits the work we've done. One with the correct audience, a journal we feel might have higher submission standards (though not kudos) that other options.

Also, I and many others couldn't care less about the impact factor. There's no point twisting your research out of shape so it fits the profile of a higher impact journal if that journal lacks the relevance and target audience you're aiming for. I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't have a problem with using an open access journal, so long as the standards of review and submission are adequate.

Like I said, you're making a huge, unsubstantiated assumption there. That we're all somehow hypocrites. I wouldn't kick start your research with it
;-)



Better that than sit and do nothing. Laws aren't automatically just and fair because they are law.

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Double post