5 ms·

Maybe we don't need all those PhDs, and we should stop funnelling public money into producing an excess supply of them?

• odyssey7 6y ago
  We do need the PhDs (or otherwise trained researchers). It’s the universities that don’t.
• burntoutfire 6y ago
  On of the effects of training too many PhDs is downward pressure on academics' salaries - i.e. the public gets their science results on the cheap.
  • fuzzfactor 6y ago
    The public fails to get much science at all, not because they or the scientists are cheap, just neither one can afford the things that were always expceted to be within reach any more.
• alisonkisk 6y ago
  What public money do you think is going toward producing PhDs? PhDs are funded by teaching and research work. They aren't paid to get the PhD.
  • phobosanomaly 6y ago
    The research part is often funded by public grant money. > They aren't paid to get the PhD. PhD students are often paid salaries/stipends derived from (often public) grant money.
    • raziel2701 6y ago
      And the best part is that all this public money results in research papers that lie behind a private paywall. How have we allowed for this fraud to go on and on?
      • mattkrause 6y ago
        That's no longer true. From 2013 onward, the results of all federally-funded research needs to be publicly available. Here's the memo mandating it: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/02/22/expanding-public-access-results-federally-funded-research https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/02/22/expandi... People do generally take this seriously and there are consequences (e.g., can't use publications in NIH grants if they haven't been deposited).
        • raziel2701 6y ago
          I have continued to publish and never have I been instructed to make the papers be open access. No one is enforcing that mandate. The research I've been a part of is wholly funded by the taxpayer and papers that I published after the mandate continue to not be freely available.
          • reasonabl_human 6y ago
            Perhaps they fall under export control due to being applicable to national defense?
            • raziel2701 6y ago
              No, national security stuff is simply not published. The mandate is not enforced.
          • mattkrause 6y ago
            Umm...not sure what to tell you about that, other than you’re potentially out of compliance with the terms you and your institution agreed to. I think there is a 6-12 month “exclusivity” period still, and some journals handle that automatically if you acknowledge federal funding. For example, Current Biology moved our stuff out from behind the paywall automatically on its publication anniversary. - Here’s the NIH policy: https://publicaccess.nih.gov/policy.htm https://publicaccess.nih.gov/policy.htm - The NSF: https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/public_access/index.jsp https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/public_access/index... - DoE: https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/08/f18/DOE_Public_Access%20Plan_FINAL.pdf https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/08/f18/DOE_Publ... - DoD: https://discover.dtic.mil/public-access-requirements-incorporated-into-the-dod-stip/ https://discover.dtic.mil/public-access-requirements-incorpo... I’m not sure if anyone has been sanctioned for not following these, but NIH progress reports/renewals require a PMCID for any papers you want to claim. You want to claim a lot on these to demonstrate productivity, so....there’s a good incentive to do this.