I was interested in a paper and found the author's email in a different paper, and sent a request to the author, but have not had a reply. A colleague of mine had the same experience. Does anyone have a clue what went wrong?
The possibilities in order of likelihood are:
1. The author has moved from one university to another.
2. The author has changed service providers.
3. The author has retired.
4. The author is on holiday.
5. The author is too busy putting out fires to reply.
6. The author believes that you should first try the libraries of first resort, and the author is only to be used when all else has failed.
7. The author has not retained copies of the paper.
8. There are two authors by the same name, and you E-mailed the wrong one.
9. The author is dead.
10. You were rude.
11. The author is rude.
I'd like add to Ian's comments
(12) The author thinks you'd waste your time reading it.
Point 6: Have you tried your departmental library, regional libraries, Inter-Library Loan and the British Library?
@Michael: I am going to steal your humour for my book. Sorry, jokes are not cited. OK?
@Michael: your possibility may be the most probable one, unfortunately....I love it!!
I have experienced some people requesting the copy of the paper which is free available online. So the one who requests the paper might be lazy or lack experience in searching for that paper online, so the last resort is to request the papers from authors who are busy with more important business.
Might be the author doesn't want his study to be cited as there may be some flaws which he came to know after publication of the paper. Normally this is not the case and people share their research willingly. Just give some time, as the holiday season has just completed. Many a times senior authors don't get time to check their emails on a regular basis too.:)
Regards
Does anyone have tips on how to obtain pay-walled articles from authors who have passed away, other than the obvious way of course? Thorough searches have already been done. (I can give post relevant info if needed.)
@ Carl: I'd try the publishing house (maybe they provide access depending on the reason for the request), the editors or insitutional employees or colleagues of the author.
@Carl, unfortunately, your request slipped through. If the pay-wall is built from copyright, it might be a matter of time since the passing away of the author until the wall is torn down. And, I'm afraid this would take a far longer time than was the case for the Berlin wall (28 years). In Germany the copyrighted works are usually free to publish 70 years after the death of the author. I'm not an expert, though, so the question of more than one author (as is usual for academic papers of today) might be handled differently.
If you followed Silvester's advice and got some response, please let us know.
I agree with Ian's comments about a number of possibilities. I would suggest you try in Google Scholar for that paper and you may find a free source.
@Aftab: Thanks, glad you like my little joke.
@Mehran: Here's a template for how NOT to request a reprint:
Hey. Gimme pdf of yr paper asap.
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