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I'm looking for a (specific) journal paper originating from (authored in, published in) China. The abstract is available on some aggregators (ResearchGate, Semantic Scholar), but author contact information isn't listed. I'm assuming the paper is written in English, but this may not be the case.

The paper itself is behind the paywall of

Wanfang Data, an affiliate of the Chinese Ministry of Science & Technology

' which

provides access to a wide range of database resources, serving as a gateway to Chinese culture, medicine, business, science, engineering, etc.'.

I'm unable to judge the legitimacy of this organisation.

Is there another aggregator, open library or Sci-hub equivalent where Chinese research can be accessed? As an analogy, an answer to this recent question, contained similar information about accessing Russian research through an open library.

I'm a little surprised by not even finding the authors' contact details by which I may directly contact them. Any related information, including pertinent cultural inputs would also help.

EDIT: I'm not seeking advice on the general methods to find papers that aren't immediately available. Information specifically about aggregators/libraries is sought, in the hope that academics familiar with research in China are aware of such resources. If its important, I have contacted libraries around for interlibrary loans, and received generally pessimistic responses.

AppliedAcademic
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  • Have you tried Baidu search engine? – Nobody Feb 15 '22 at 14:20
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    You should ask a research librarian at your university to help you. Usually they have an ILL request form you can fill out. – Anonymous Physicist Feb 15 '22 at 14:28
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    Does this answer your question? Should I cite an article that I can't find? – Anonymous Physicist Feb 15 '22 at 14:30
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    In particular, both questions have the same answer: go to your librarian. – Anonymous Physicist Feb 15 '22 at 14:31
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    @AnonymousPhysicist- No, the question you linked is seeking advice, whereas I'm seeking specific information about the existence of a resource. Your librarian suggestion is somewhat heavy-handed in the assumption that its not already been pursued. If you have any pertinent inputs on this specific question, I'm happy to hear them. – AppliedAcademic Feb 15 '22 at 14:48
  • @Nobody- yes, that links back to the same places. As I understand baidu is only a general search engine, I'm looking for something more specific. – AppliedAcademic Feb 15 '22 at 14:50
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    @AppliedAcademic - to be fair, we get lots of questions here where the answer is to go talk to a good research librarian - too many folks seem to think Google is the acme of searching. And, frankly, this question is one of them - if there is a professional quality database of Chinese research, a research librarian would know of it or find it readily. And you do seem to care about the quality, albeit to a quite limited extent. – Jon Custer Feb 15 '22 at 14:58
  • @JonCuster- I agree with your general direction, but as mentioned in the edit, I've tried conventional routes. Professionality is not a concern (hence the mention of Sci-hub). – AppliedAcademic Feb 15 '22 at 15:51
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    I'll second the suggestion of @AnonymousPhysicist, that a research librarian is probably your best source. – Buffy Feb 15 '22 at 16:07
  • You said "libraries around." Does that mean you are not affiliated with a university that has a research librarian? – Anonymous Physicist Feb 15 '22 at 16:27
  • If you are not willing to pay the fee to access the paper and have not told us the name of the journal, I doubt you will be able to get help. If such a "platform" exists I do not see why it would be free. – Anonymous Physicist Feb 15 '22 at 16:28
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    @AnonymousPhysicist- I work at a national lab and am affiliated to a university, neither of whose librarians have expressed optimism because they don't have ILS with the country in question. Access charge is not the obstacle, legitimacy of the publisher is. If it were a known publisher/journal, this would not a problem. In the current case, except for the abstract and author names, there is no bibliometric information to go by. This is why I'd be happy even with author information. Finally, would it help to share the journal name here? I thought that would run the risk of becoming shopping. – AppliedAcademic Feb 15 '22 at 16:46
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    I am a native Chinese speaker. I live in Taiwan. I checked Wanfang Data. It's legitimate as far as I know. Unless your institute or the government have problems with interfacing with them, I suggest you to send e-mail to Wanfang Data directly to inquire for information. Check with the security personnel of your lab before you do so. Many governments/national labs have "China phobia" in these days. I, for one, don't want to answer your question directly because of some concerns. Good Luck ! – Nobody Feb 16 '22 at 03:34
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    Thanks @Nobody, this is very helpful. I wish this could be an accepted answer, but I'm cognizant of your concerns. Hopefully someday we will all operate in a more trusting world. Good luck to you too! – AppliedAcademic Feb 16 '22 at 06:34

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