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This study examines data on the worldwide use of the shadow library website Sci-Hub. It focuses particularly on the discipline of development studies, taking a critical look at current practices in scientific publishing and their implications for scientific conduct in this field. In the context of discussions about open science, the data demonstrate that Sci-Hub represents an existing network of open access literature. The study first describes the extent and geographic distribution of download requests from Sci-Hub and then identifies the underlying socio-economic drivers (i.e. GDP and population). The authors find that Sci-Hub is used the most by researchers from the global South, primarily from middle-income countries, whereas researchers from the poorest countries in the data set use Sci-Hub the least. This approach allows some conclusions to be drawn about factors that have an effect on a functioning open access network.1. This is a reference to Sci-Hub, which uses as its logo a picture of a crow holding a key. For a copy of the image, see: www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/08/letterpublishers-group-adds-debate-over-sci-hub-and-librarians-who-study-it (accessed 18 December 2020).

Roughly one-fifth of the global population is affected by poor visual acuity. Despite the fact that inhabitants of rural areas in low-income countries are most distressed by this, no prior research has studied the impact of poor visual acuity on the economic performance of farms. We conduct a standardized eye test with 288 farm managers in rural Cambodia and find that around 30 percent of our sample suffers from poor visual acuity in terms of nearsightedness (myopia). Our analyses indicate a statistically significant and economically meaningful association of poor visual acuity with economic farm performance. Our results show that gross margins for cropping activities per year could be, on average, around 630 USD higher if farm managers were able to correct for poor vision. Our results suggest that poor visual acuity impairs farm managers from tapping the full potential of their business, which in turn decreases their chance to break the vicious cycle of poverty.

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