Time to break academic publishing's stranglehold on research
newscientist.com
Time to break academic publishing's stranglehold on research
1–10 of 312 posts
Re: Time to break academic publishing's stranglehold on research
#2This would be great, many people support this idea. You'll need generational change to get there.
Re: Time to break academic publishing's stranglehold on research
#3This would be great, many people support this idea. You'll need generational change to get there.
"Truth never triumphs—its opponents just die out." - Max Planck
Re: Time to break academic publishing's stranglehold on research
#4From the article:
> the business of publishing tax-funded research and then selling it to tax-funded institutions has produced the most profitable industry in the world
How is this not illegal?
Re: Time to break academic publishing's stranglehold on research
#5For anyone who still doesn't know this: publishers do not pay paper authors, in any field. I am also not aware of a publisher paying peer reviewers.
(Lowly soon-to-be-postdoc here; a professor would be able to say more.)
Re: Time to break academic publishing's stranglehold on research
#6From the article: > the business of publishing tax-funded research and then selling it to tax-funded institutions has produced the most profitable industry in the world How is this not illegal?
I don't see why would it. You can submit papers without an affiliation, so the idea of publishing only tax-funded research is a generalization. That is, these organizations do work by being selective and then selling the collections of that selection process back.
Re: Time to break academic publishing's stranglehold on research
#7From the article: > the business of publishing tax-funded research and then selling it to tax-funded institutions has produced the most profitable industry in the world How is this not illegal?
I don't see why would it. You can submit papers without an affiliation, so the idea of publishing only tax-funded research is a generalization. That is, these organizations do work by being selective and then selling the collections of that selection process back.
Granted the publishers do work. Even PLoS does work. It's the lack of access that is the problem. $42.50 for an article one of my colleagues at my own US Government institution wrote (random example from this weekend's work, American Journal of Bioethics) is ridiculous.
Re: Time to break academic publishing's stranglehold on research
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see why would it. You can submit papers without an affiliation, so the idea of publishing only tax-funded research is a generalization. That is, these organizations do work by being selective and then selling the collections of that selection process back.
Granted the publishers do work. Even PLoS does work. It's the lack of access that is the problem. $42.50 for an article one of my colleagues at my own US Government institution wrote (random example from this weekend's work, American Journal of Bioethics) is ridiculous.
I thought in most cases the author is free to provide copies of his/her own articles directly? Is it not true that you could just ask your colleague for a copy of what he submitted for publication?
Re: Time to break academic publishing's stranglehold on research
#9From the article: > the business of publishing tax-funded research and then selling it to tax-funded institutions has produced the most profitable industry in the world How is this not illegal?
which part should be illegal, the selling of the subscriptions or the buying?
That statement is misleading. Pblishers sell participation badges to the article authors, the authors put these badges in their CV, and when the time comes to ask for money from the governmnet, the gal with the most badges on her chest wins it.
In addition, the authors have the right to upload a preprint (i.e. a copy identical in content) to a preprint server - virtually all journals allow it nowadays - although it doesn't happen.
So, there is in theory no reason why anyone should go to these websites to download a copy. In practice, it is convenient for the parties involved (researchers & funding agencies).
Re: Time to break academic publishing's stranglehold on research
#10For anyone who still doesn't know this: publishers do not pay paper authors, in any field. I am also not aware of a publisher paying peer reviewers. (Lowly soon-to-be-postdoc here; a professor would be able to say more.)
How do peer reviews happen, then, if nobody gets paid to do them? Does research money (that goes to the production of the paper) not also cover peer-reviews?
I wouldn't see any incentive for any work to be peer-reviewed, ever, then.