Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal • Hacker News Board

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#61

Post by Vinnl » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:12 PM UTC

avar wrote: post #37

There seems to be an even more effective solution to closed journals than just telling scientists that if they take money their paper needs to be in an open journal. Also tell them that when they apply for funding only scientific research which is available in open journals will be considered. You'd then get people not only submitting new research in open journals, but making all their backlog available as well to in…

Yes, but this too is difficult. Funders outsource the decision of whom to fund to other academics, and despite quite a few of them already encouraging them to ignore things like the Journal Impact Factor and have signed DORA [1], old habits die hard.

[1] https://sfdora.org/

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#62

Post by jtmcmc » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:14 PM UTC

snambi wrote: post #59

afpx wrote: post #40

Not too long ago, I had communications with Elsevier's technology team, and through that experience, I also spoke with some of their directors. Let me say that the experience was kind of mind-boggling and surreal. My impression is that Elsevier is a company locked into the past by a couple of decades. The leadership that I spoke with seemed to have worked in publishing for a very long time. And, probably because of t…

Who reads all these journals? Let alone pay for them...

mostly academics in the relevant fields, largely paid for by the institutions they work at

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#63

Post by burtonator » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:18 PM UTC

This is awesome.

I'm working on something that would VERY much benefit from open access journals:

https://getpolarized.io/

With Polar you maintain all your research in one place and can annotate and share with other users.

One thing I want to add is the ability to sync up with open access sources to fetch PDFs, get metadata for them, find related PDFs and research, etc.

Going to go heads down into this today.

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#64

Post by currymj » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:19 PM UTC

apetresc wrote: post #57

currymj wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the most part, researchers would prefer to publish open access, and agree with your stance about public money 100%, but with the current state of things, it would have a negative effect on their careers. You have to publish in certain highly-regarded journals to advance. In some countries this is basically enshrined in law: there's a big table of journals ranked from high to low, and you need a certain number of…

Wow, seriously? Which countries?

The first explicit reference I found was the Norwegian Scientific Index but I believe other countries have a similar system. Literally, each journal article is worth points, the points are divided among the coauthors, and then the points have a monetary value which is given in grants to the respective institutions.

http://blog.boletsis.net/level-1-level-2-publications-norweg...

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#65

Post by pfortuny » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:20 PM UTC

snambi wrote: post #59

afpx wrote: post #40

Not too long ago, I had communications with Elsevier's technology team, and through that experience, I also spoke with some of their directors. Let me say that the experience was kind of mind-boggling and surreal. My impression is that Elsevier is a company locked into the past by a couple of decades. The leadership that I spoke with seemed to have worked in publishing for a very long time. And, probably because of t…

Who reads all these journals? Let alone pay for them...

In Spain it is the State: there is a subscription covering all public universities for quite a few journals (at least in Maths, my job).

I really do not want to know how much we are paying for that.

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#66

Post by mywittyname » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:28 PM UTC

afpx wrote: post #40

Not too long ago, I had communications with Elsevier's technology team, and through that experience, I also spoke with some of their directors. Let me say that the experience was kind of mind-boggling and surreal. My impression is that Elsevier is a company locked into the past by a couple of decades. The leadership that I spoke with seemed to have worked in publishing for a very long time. And, probably because of t…

> I sensed that many in the technology team seemed frustrated with their leadership.

That's an understatement.

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#67

Post by garethrees » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:29 PM UTC

mothsonasloth wrote: post #14

Aaron Schwartz would be pleased to see this. Elsevier, Springer etc. are just syndicates sitting between researchers and consumers. They have no place in today's world.

Do you mean Aaron Swartz?

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#68

Post by loeg » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:43 PM UTC

jtmcmc wrote: post #62

snambi wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who reads all these journals? Let alone pay for them...

mostly academics in the relevant fields, largely paid for by the institutions they work at

Institutions in turn funded by some combination of the state, undergrads, or endowments.

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#69

Post by visarga » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:47 PM UTC

burtonator wrote: post #63

This is awesome. I'm working on something that would VERY much benefit from open access journals: https://getpolarized.io/ With Polar you maintain all your research in one place and can annotate and share with other users. One thing I want to add is the ability to sync up with open access sources to fetch PDFs, get metadata for them, find related PDFs and research, etc. Going to go heads down into this today.

Interesting app idea, I installed, but couldn't figure out how to create an annotation.

Re: Elsevier journal editors resign, start rival open-access journal

#70

Post by geezerjay » Wed, Jan 16, 2019, 6:54 PM UTC

apetresc wrote: post #57

currymj wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the most part, researchers would prefer to publish open access, and agree with your stance about public money 100%, but with the current state of things, it would have a negative effect on their careers. You have to publish in certain highly-regarded journals to advance. In some countries this is basically enshrined in law: there's a big table of journals ranked from high to low, and you need a certain number of…

Wow, seriously? Which countries?

> Wow, seriously? Which countries?

Pretty much any developed country. Research funding is guided by metrics and publishing is a very strong component. As anyone can create their own personal journal, only the leading and established ones count.