#ICanHazPDF is a hashtag used on Twitter to request access to academic journal articles which are behind paywalls. It began in 2011 by scientist Andrea Kuszewski. The name is derived from the meme I Can Has Cheezburger?.
Contents
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 will then email it to them. The user then deletes the original tweet. Alternately, 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 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 other fields, despite that subscription prices for chemistry, physics, and astronomy are, on average, higher than biology. Possible reasons that people use the hashtag include reluctance of readers to pay for articles, and the speed of the process compared to most university inter-library loans.
Criticism
The practice of requesting articles has sometimes been deemed "piracy". However, broad generalizations about the legality or illegality of using ICanHazPDF are dubious, given that many scientific publishers allow distribution of journal articles in some form, and the policies vary from publisher to publisher.