4 ms·

I cannot understand why people publish bogus results and stretch the truth, which I have personally witnessed (but not by my previous mentors). Academia doesn't

I cannot understand why people publish bogus results and stretch the truth, which I have personally witnessed (but not by my previous mentors). Academia doesn't pay as well as industry, so why remain in academic research unless you care enough to raise the bar? I mean, publishing a research paper is months of work, so it doesn't make sense to spend that effort on bad results

hammock 6y ago
Because industry requires veritable results? And academia doesn't (as you point out). Easier to be a hack in an academic environment.
coolgod 6y ago
Because some people don't want to work or can't fit well in industry but still wants to be respected and get paid? Researchers who should often obtain "bad results" still have families to feed. Given the current perverse incentives, its totally understandable why there is a plethora of low "quality" papers.
HarryHirsch 6y ago
The simple answer is that people at regional universities need tenure. In the past, it was enough to just teach and perhaps write up some things for the local undergraduate journal, nowadays you have to fulfill some metric, typically publish n papers (it's left unspecified where) and bring in a small grant. The pay-to-publish journals exist to fill that niche. It's all the result of well-meant incentives, not a decay of morals.
laretluval 6y ago
Academia doesn't pay as well as industry in terms of money but it does pay well in terms of status and ego supply. Couple that with a bit of self-delusion and it's a recipe for crackpots who can't believe their beautiful ideas could be wrong.
inglor_cz 6y ago
Publish or perish is, in my experience, by far the most serious pressure in academic career. Aside from that, your pay is "not great, not terrible", but your job likely won't be outsourced to China anytime soon, your employer won't go bankrupt, your work won't likely kill anyone, burnouts are rare, scientific conferences in attractive venues are common (or were, until the covid thingy). I sometimes visit my teachers and former colleagues at the university I graduated from. They do not earn much and there is an obvious bias - people who stay there and teach come from more well-off families, often inheriting their homes etc. But they seem to be happy enough, have 8 weeks of paid leave yearly etc. Moreover, at least here in the Czech Republic, teaching at a university is highly prestigious.

hammock 6y ago

Because industry requires veritable results? And academia doesn't (as you point out). Easier to be a hack in an academic environment.

coolgod 6y ago

Because some people don't want to work or can't fit well in industry but still wants to be respected and get paid? Researchers who should often obtain "bad results" still have families to feed. Given the current perverse incentives, its totally understandable why there is a plethora of low "quality" papers.

HarryHirsch 6y ago

The simple answer is that people at regional universities need tenure. In the past, it was enough to just teach and perhaps write up some things for the local undergraduate journal, nowadays you have to fulfill some metric, typically publish n papers (it's left unspecified where) and bring in a small grant. The pay-to-publish journals exist to fill that niche. It's all the result of well-meant incentives, not a decay of morals.

laretluval 6y ago

Academia doesn't pay as well as industry in terms of money but it does pay well in terms of status and ego supply. Couple that with a bit of self-delusion and it's a recipe for crackpots who can't believe their beautiful ideas could be wrong.

inglor_cz 6y ago

Publish or perish is, in my experience, by far the most serious pressure in academic career. Aside from that, your pay is "not great, not terrible", but your job likely won't be outsourced to China anytime soon, your employer won't go bankrupt, your work won't likely kill anyone, burnouts are rare, scientific conferences in attractive venues are common (or were, until the covid thingy). I sometimes visit my teachers and former colleagues at the university I graduated from. They do not earn much and there is an obvious bias - people who stay there and teach come from more well-off families, often inheriting their homes etc. But they seem to be happy enough, have 8 weeks of paid leave yearly etc. Moreover, at least here in the Czech Republic, teaching at a university is highly prestigious.