Yup. Researchers will gladly send you the study for free, because they don’t make anything when you pay for it through a journal. For the unaware, the fee charged by research journals goes completely to the journal; The author/researchers don’t get anything for it. In fact, they have to pay the journal to get published. And that shit isn’t cheap! The more prestigious journals can charge upwards of $8-10k.
The research journal scheme is a giant scam, designed to double-dip and extract profit from both ends. And it only works because scientific communities tend to look at certain journals as prestigious. So they want to be published in those journals, even if they have to pay. But I can almost guarantee that the researchers resent the journals, because they’ve been roped into paying for research for their entire professional lives. And that’s why they’re usually happy to send you a free copy of their paper if you just email and ask nicely.
Journals are also bad because they frequently privatize research that public funds paid for. For instance, let’s say the government pays for a study to be done. Then the researchers need to get that published, so they pay the journal to publish it. Then the journal paywalls the study, even though it was already paid for with tax dollars. It’s shit that sounds like it should be illegal, but is commonly accepted for some reason.