Scible was developed to bring open-access research to the world in a way that helps us all. We respect the intellectual property rights of others and ask that you do the same.
Places like Sci-Hub breach copyright by unlocking articles that are behind paywalls. We do believe mass open access is the solution the scientific community deserves. However, we strive for a legal alternative.
Scible is different. Scible connects directly to publishers via an API and pays them so you and your institution can access their work freely. Why is this important? Because it means that closed access articles displayed as ‘Scible Exclusives’ are legally licensed to use for you to find and read.
In addition to accessing research via APIs directly from journals, we have curated research from other scientific indexes. These are collected automatically similar to other scientific indexes. If our platform has content that you as a publisher believe has somehow infringed on copyright, them please let us know and we will remove it. A journal may request the removal of the content, or specify a different action. When a copyright holder or license owner submits a notice in accordance with international law, Scible will comply with their request.
Copyright Infringement
YOU are responsible for any and all content you upload onto our platform in the form of comments, posts and more. That’s why we display your name next to any content that you have uploaded to Scible. If we receive complaints from other users or organizations regarding copyright, we are entitled to remove any and all content this pertains to.
We cannot legally provide you with any advice regarding copyright as this can change from country to country. Before posting content, please make sure you have the rights to do so.
Can I post a link to a journals website where content is available freely?
Yes, you are free to post links to original publishers and we actively encourage this (permitted the link does not lead to content infringes on copyright). That is why we have the DOI number clearly located on an article’s summary page. This allows anyone to visit the original publisher’s website and support them.
How Do I Re-Use Content Without Breaching Copyright Policy?
Scible cannot give you permission to re-use content found on our platform as we do not hold the copyrights for most content. You will need to get in touch with the original publisher or the author for permission to re-use the content. Many journals/publishers will have information regarding how to re-use content on their website. They will also have emails for the author there.
If you are simply using the research as a reference or quoting it, you are of course permitted to do so. However, you are required to accurately reference the article. For information on how to do that, see the ‘Generating & Storing References‘ pages.
What Do I Do If I Am Unsure Of My Rights?
If you are unsure of your rights regarding your rights to re-using content, we ask that you contact your institution/publisher first. Do NOT simply re-use content before checking with the right-holders. We would much rather you contact them and be sure that you have the rights to reuse the work first. This reduces all risk that we will be forced to remove any content later on.
What can I do if someone posted content that infringes Copyright Policy?
If you believe someone has posted content that infringes upon your rights, we have a process by which we can remove this content or disable access to it for others. If you have been authorised to act on the behalf of the copyright owner or are not directly the copyright owner, we ask that you contact the owner directly. They will need to submit evidence that you act on behalf of them to provide a notice of claimed infringement.
To submit a claim, simply locate the content that is infringing on copyright, click ‘Report’, and then provide evidence of the infringement and the reason for the takedown notice. We ask that you please give us time to process the request as we manually handle such cases. We do this because we believe that this gives copyright owners the best chance to have their case won and the content removed.
Alternatively, visit the ‘Report’ page and paste the URL/SID Number of the content you wish to have removed.
What can I do if someone has plagiarized my work?
‘Plagiarism’ has many different meanings, but usually involves copying somebody else’s work without permission. If you own work that you believe someone has copied or infringed upon your copyrights, you can report this directly to the publishers as Scible simply indexes research that has been published elsewhere.
Someone is claiming infringement on my content. What Happens Now?
Scible respects the intellectual rights of everyone. If we receive notice of copyright infringement regarding the content you have uploaded, we will remove this content without examination of the claim. We will contact you informing you that the content is temporarily removed. If you can provide evidence of this being a mistake, we may re-upload this content. You will have 30 days to provide this evidence. If evidence is not provided, or you inform us that the claim against the content is valid, we will have this content removed and no further action will be taken.
Scible is required by international law to implement a restriction policy for any users that act as repeat offenders. This means that Scible will record all instances of copyright infringement. Persistent offenders may have their accounts restricted or permanently blocked at our own discretion.
I have received a notice of infringement. Do I need to do anything?
In the email informing you of the infringement, you will be directed to a page that gives you the option to respond to the claim and provide evidence against the claim. Additionally, you may wish to simply accept the claim. In this situation, we will remove the content and you can continue using our services.
However, if multiple infringement attempts occur, we reserve the right to restrict your account.
What will happen to my account if I get an Infringement claim?
Nothing will happen to your account so long as there has not been repeated claims or large copyright infringement activities. We do record each notice that is filed against your content. We need this by law to be able to act out the repeat infringer policy expected of us.
Further infringements may result in action being taken on your account, which could include your account being permanently locked.
Because of this, we ask all users to check to ensure they are permitted to submit content before doing so. Scible is not responsible for any posts, comments and copyright infringement content you upload, you are.
I disagree with my notice of infringement. What can I do?
We do not assess the claims of copyright infringement. We remove the content until you can provide Failure to remove the content may place legal liability onto our platform.
We recognise that sometimes content may be removed by accident. To ensure this isn’t an issue, we are currently implementing a method for mediation between you and the person/entity making the claim.
We will provide you with the email of the person making the claim. If you choose to contact them, please be respectful and ask that the content be re-instated. If they then report back to us telling us they want to retract the claim, we can do so.
My account has been locked. What can I do?
As we take infringement claims seriously, we have a repeat infringer policy in place as required by law. Our policy provides for the locking of accounts, in appropriate circumstances.
If your account has been permanently locked due to repeat copyright infringement, this action is generally irreversible. We are able to reverse the action provided you contact our support team and can provide evidence as to an error on our part. We manually handle these claims to give you the best chance to have your account re-instated. Please be respectful of the fact we have real people working to bring the best outcome for you.