In small- to medium-sized pharmaceutical, biotech, and medtech companies, teams often operate lean. Without extensive legal, compliance, or information management departments, employees are frequently left to navigate complex copyright and content procurement issues on their own.
One common and overlooked issue? Using academic credentials, such as university logins or library access, to obtain scientific journal articles for commercial use. While it may feel like a harmless shortcut, this practice can introduce significant legal, regulatory, and reputational risks for your company.
Academic Access vs. Corporate Risk
Universities and research institutions license institutional access to scientific content. These subscriptions usually have strict licensing terms that limit usage to academic, non-commercial purposes.
But when researchers transition from academia to industry, they often retain access to their alma mater’s digital resources. It’s not uncommon for industry professionals to use that access to gather literature for R&D efforts, regulatory submissions, or marketing support. Unfortunately, doing so in a corporate context may be a violation of the scope of that license for the access and use the scientific content and may put your organization at risk for copyright infringement.
What’s the Harm in Using a University Login?
At first glance, accessing an article through your old university login may seem innocent—especially when you’re up against tight deadlines or working with limited budgets. But here are some risks you might not have considered:
1. Legal and Financial Risk
Original written works like scientific articles are generally protected by copyright law. Downloading and/or distributing the articles or submitting them as part of a submission, such as a regulatory filing, without proper licensing may constitute copyright infringement, and can lead to:
- Legal action against your company
- Financial penalties
- Loss of reputation and trust in the industry
Publishers and copyright holders are increasingly using digital rights management and monitoring tools to track inappropriate access and distribution of their content. A seemingly small infraction can escalate quickly.
2. Regulatory Compliance Failures
If you’re preparing a submission to regulatory bodies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the European Medicines Agency (EMA), any supporting scientific literature must be properly licensed. These articles are submitted to validate claims related to efficacy, safety, dosing, and population selection.
Using pirated or improperly sourced content:
- Could raise red flags about your company’s compliance culture
- Can delay regulatory approval timelines
- Could jeopardize the entire submission if regulators question document provenance
Audits and inspections require you to provide clear audit trails and proof of relevant licenses for every piece of submitted content.
3. M&A and Investor Due Diligence
Many small and mid-sized life sciences companies aim to be acquired by larger players or to secure significant investments. During due diligence, legal and compliance reviews can uncover questionable practices—including improper content procurement.
This could affect:
- Valuation
- Trust from potential partners
- Whether a deal closes at all
Demonstrating that your company takes copyright compliance seriously—at every level—is crucial to long-term success.
4. Ethical and Industry-Wide Implications
Legalities aside, supporting the proper procurement of research content ensures that the ecosystem of scientific publishing remains viable. Licensing fees fund:
- Peer review processes
- Editorial oversight
- Infrastructure for digital access and archiving
When companies sidestep licensing models, it undermines the integrity of scientific publishing and the quality of available research. Supporting ethical content acquisition benefits everyone in the industry.
What’s the Right Way to Access Scientific Articles in a Corporate Environment?
If you’re working in a small to mid-sized pharmaceutical, biotech, or medtech company, consider these best practices:
- Invest in licenses or subscriptions: Even targeted subscriptions to high-priority journals can support key information needs and many publishers offer tokens, a type of pay-per-use model
- Use document delivery services: These services offer pay-per-use access to articles, facilitating copyright compliance when you need specific content that may not be available through existing company resources.
- Partner with information professionals: If you don’t yet have an in-house librarian or copyright compliance officer, consider outsourcing or consulting with experts to build proper systems.
You can learn more about these options here.
Compliance Isn’t Optional—It’s a Competitive Advantage
In a fast-moving industry where scientific evidence underpins every milestone—from discovery to regulatory approval to commercialization—how you acquire and use content matters. What might seem like a minor shortcut could snowball into legal trouble, loss of investor confidence, or stalled approvals.
For small- to mid-sized life sciences companies aiming to scale, get acquired, or earn regulatory approval, ensuring proper access to and use of scientific literature is more than just a copyright compliance requirement, it’s a strategic imperative.