> ... acedemia promotes people and the govt gives grants based on a formula: sum(journal_prestige .* number_articles). Take away the current system and there is

> ... acedemia promotes people and the govt gives grants based on a formula: sum(journal_prestige .* number_articles). Take away the current system and there is no way to evaluate anybody. Neal Stephenson made a similar argument with respect to the arts in his answer to the second question in this interview with slashdot: http://interviews.slashdot.org/interviews/04/10/20/1518217.shtml http://interviews.slashdot.org/interviews/04/10/20/1518217.s... Yes, it's a long answer; it is Stephenson after all.