PONE-D-20-18408

Open access is not a panacea, even if it’s radical – an empirical study on the role of shadow libraries in closing the inequality of knowledge access

PLOS ONE

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The peer reviewers have provided valuable advice to this article, and I'm agree with their judgement. For instance, the empirical statistics should be more accurate and standardized. Also ,the authors should pay more attention on the details according to the PLOS ONE’s publication criteria. 

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The paper “Open access is not a panacea, even if it’s radical – an empirical study on the role of shadow libraries in closing the inequality of knowledge access” investigates on the economic and social factors behind the usage of shadow libraries, and provides interesting analysis in the global and European models. The publishers' subscription fee increases the financial burden of institutions and researchers. Shadow library was created to deal with complex institutional, political, financial, and other issues. However, academic piracy is worth studying, so this study is indeed a relevant and timely topic. This article is well organized and draws conclusions and arguments on the data analysis. I only have a few minor comments for the authors to consider, as to further improve the article:

1. In the “Data Overview and Descriptive Statistics” section, the author obtained many data sources, which provided the source and explanation of variables for the following model. It is important to show a table with the descriptive statistical information of variables in the model. This table can show the information of variables more intuitively and enhance readability.

2. In the construction of Global/European model, independent variables should use literature to support, especially for the authors to justify their research design (why some indicators were considered, but not the others)

3. In the Global Model, the authors write " Since our dependent variable is count data, the use of Poisson regression is justified. On the other hand, a negative binomial distribution did not suit this problem, therefore we omitted that approach " When the dependent variable is count data, Poisson regression and negative binomial regression are optional. Although Poisson regression is usually used, it needs explanation why negative binomial distribution is not suitable for this problem. If possible, the author should declare the reason for selecting regression methods, such as the relationship between expectation and variance.

4. There are three identical tables 3. I don't understand why three identical tables should be here.

5. In the Random forest models, I believe that the random forest model selected by the author has performed well in this study, but other model selection methods should also be considered. If possible, authors can add the comparison between other methods and the random forest model, which can better explain why the random forest method is used instead of others.

Reviewer #2: This is an illuminating and meaningful study. According to regression analysis in global models and European models, the authors found two significant demand drivers of scholarly piracy: GDP and the size of knowledge intensive sector; and revealed that open access knowledge might have limited usefulness in addressing knowledge access and production inequalities, in case of lacking inadequate or improper knowledge absorption infrastructures, which could be thought-provoking for the global open-access movement.

There are several minor problems that need to be addressed or improved.

1. The names of variables should be addressed clearly, such as “dl_per_pop_round”, “dl_per_pop”, “pop_per_mil”, “eb_is_visit_public_library” , “eb_limited_library_supply”, et al.

2. What is the statistical meaning of value in parentheses below the coefficient in each model? It doesn't look like the P value since the value doesn’t match the significant signal. Please give the necessary illustration.

3. Table 3 appears three times, and table 6 appears twice. Figure 6 is not shown in the manuscript. Please check the layout and details carefully.

4. In page 15 and 16, authors claimed the model 7 can “explain ~72% of the variance”, “effect of disposable income is positive and significant at a 95% level” in model 9, and “the download per researcher models have a worse fit than the per capita models”. How statistics support these statements? Could the certifiable statistics be available?

5. It seems not very clear to understand how the results of Random forest models connect with other models or support the research conclusion. Would the results of Random forest models be available and explained more specifically and clearly?

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Reviewer Recommendation and Comments for Manuscript Number PONE-D-20-18408.docx

Can scholarly pirate libraries bridge the knowledge access gap? An empirical study on the structural conditions of book piracy in global and European academia.

PONE-D-20-18408R1

Dear Dr. Bodo,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Sergi Lozano

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The author made good revision this time, so in my option, it can be published if the editors will accepted.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No