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As a publishing scientist, let me tell you, science publishing is not a free market. We can't just "build up the alternatives" because that is not conducive to

As a publishing scientist, let me tell you, science publishing is not a free market. We can't just "build up the alternatives" because that is not conducive to anyone's scientific career. If it's some no name journal where you will publish along side free energy and cold fusion articles, no one will do it. The mistake is giving journals a profit incentive in the first place in a system that inherently doesn't work well in a market system. You can't have "competition" between journals, it just doesn't work that way. A handful of journals have high impact factors and so get most of the submissions, that's how it is, and they then can crank up their publishing fees because they can. Perhaps you shouldn't "blame the publishers" given they are "acting according to their self interest." I did say "If you want to blame anyone[...]," implying I don't really care to blame anyone. I admit I am more inclined to blame the publishers, but the whole system is fundamentally broken.

ngold 9y ago
Blame the taxpayer. We as a nation should demand we get access to what we pay for. At this point we are funding publishers to make free money off of what was already paid for.
- gotchomacallum 9y ago
  Or stop blaming altogether and face the problem. I think it lies with the idea that knowledge must be somehow justified (as if this were possible without infinite regress). Which leads to an obsession with citations, footnotes, and so on.
- ryanianian 9y ago
  That's effectively what this article does.
Vinnl 9y ago
As a software developer, I do have the opportunity to build up alternatives - in fact, I'm hoping for that to be my career. So that's what I'm doing now [1], and anyone interested can subscribe at [2]. [1] https://medium.com/flockademic/dear-scientists-help-me-help-you-help-me-fix-academic-publishing-fe31004b8de7 https://medium.com/flockademic/dear-scientists-help-me-help-... [2] https://tinyletter.com/Flockademic https://tinyletter.com/Flockademic

ngold 9y ago

Blame the taxpayer. We as a nation should demand we get access to what we pay for. At this point we are funding publishers to make free money off of what was already paid for.

gotchomacallum 9y ago
Or stop blaming altogether and face the problem. I think it lies with the idea that knowledge must be somehow justified (as if this were possible without infinite regress). Which leads to an obsession with citations, footnotes, and so on.
ryanianian 9y ago
That's effectively what this article does.

Vinnl 9y ago

As a software developer, I do have the opportunity to build up alternatives - in fact, I'm hoping for that to be my career. So that's what I'm doing now [1], and anyone interested can subscribe at [2]. [1] https://medium.com/flockademic/dear-scientists-help-me-help-you-help-me-fix-academic-publishing-fe31004b8de7 https://medium.com/flockademic/dear-scientists-help-me-help-... [2] https://tinyletter.com/Flockademic https://tinyletter.com/Flockademic