I have to use my teacher’s credentials to gain access to a scientific search engine. Why can’t I use my own as a student?

Actually, a better question would be, “Why do I have to have special privileges to access published works anyway?” You would think that since scientists worked so hard on their research and paper that they’d want as many people to see it as possible. However, it's become very rare to find a research journal with free access to the complete paper. Nowadays you can only read the abstract and if you want to read further, pay up. 

Everyone should have completely free access to published scientific journals. I understand that publishers and researchers need to make money somehow and so contracts can be made with universities and colleges, but there should be some websites where a student ID number is not necessary to read about cancerous cell proliferation. 

According to Peter Ellis, a blogger for Science The Wire, inadequate access to research journals affects more than just college and high school students. Because access to these works is heavily restricted, parents seeking information about vaccines, circulating viruses, and the best foods to feed their kids, for example, have to look elsewhere for an answer, potentially leading to the spread of misinformation. 

If scientific journals had more of a welcoming presence to them, more people would seek them out to learn more about a topic from a credible source. This would also help to lessen the amount of misinformation that is out there, leading to a more educated society that would benefit everyone. 

Another issue within the scientific community of published research is that not every paper is reviewed by the same editor or company. This means that papers that have been published have been reviewed by one set of eyes, metaphorically speaking. In recent years, it has been found that previously published works are being discredited because they have been found to have false findings, according to The New York Times. 

So in actuality even if you are able to gain access to a scientific journal, it might not be entirely credible. More and more people are starting to advocate for having every research journal submitted be peer-reviewed by numerous people so that fraudulent work doesn’t slip through the cracks and is made available to others.

Gatekeeping within the scientific community has turned into a more severe issue than was previously imagined. At first, it presented itself as being restrictive to those not part of a college or those who don’t have the money to pay for a subscription service. But now, even those who do have better access, may not be reading truthful research. 

Implementing a universal system across the board where everyone who wants to be published must first be peer-reviewed would allow for less misinformation and would hopefully open up the spectrum for who gets to read these important journals. 

Parents would no longer have to turn to biased sources, students would have accurate information to guide their own research, and even policymakers would be able to gain different perspectives from having access to more published works. Unlocking the gates of the scientific community would provide a hungry community with the knowledge they need to grow even more.