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It’s not really the peer review process that makes them prestigious. The peer review process employed by world-class journals doesn’t guarantee good science (se

by 542458 5y ago

It’s not really the peer review process that makes them prestigious. The peer review process employed by world-class journals doesn’t guarantee good science (see: all sorts of high profile retractions). And it’s not really a complicated system - it’s easy to clone, as the procedures are all public and the important players are all volunteers. But cloning the top journals’ peer review process wouldn’t make you a top journal. Many mid and low tier publications use the same peer review process as the high tier ones. It’s more of a bit of a tautology: the most prestigious journals are the most prestigious because they’re seen as the most prestigious - which means they get all the best submissions, the best people volunteer to be organizers, speakers, reviewers, and people pay attention to their proceedings increasing their citation numbers. This makes it a fairly self-sustaining system. It also makes it hard to break into. It’s no coincidence that the “best” publications also tend to be the oldest.

slim 5y ago
That's why I think there's a chance for sci-hub to disrupt this. It's already doing great marketing-wise and attracting a lot of great researchers. If some of those researchers donate their research and their time to peer review - in protest against the current monopoly - it could be disrupted.
thrdbndndn 5y ago
Point taken. I think ultimately the problem of academia publication isn't the openness of access (which obviously is good if we can have), but the whole system as you mentioned.
cinquemb 5y ago
> This makes it a fairly self-sustaining system. It also makes it hard to break into. It’s no coincidence that the “best” publications also tend to be the oldest. I think that this is also means that it will be slow moving and very fragile to a new system that could incentivize people to undertake all the listed actions above that don't go thru/reliant upon the traditional process. Not saying that we are there yet, nor do I think willingly choosing to submit to any particular jurisdiction in hopes of a favorable outcome will have much effect in the long run (I think systems really change when old systems that served similar functions in some capacity are made obsolete), but as long as tech becomes cheaper, more people become knowledge able about the system as a whole and the incentives involved, more ways of pursuing research will emerge that will be more resilient than hoping for nation state judiciary approval.

by 542458 5y ago

slim 5y ago

That's why I think there's a chance for sci-hub to disrupt this. It's already doing great marketing-wise and attracting a lot of great researchers. If some of those researchers donate their research and their time to peer review - in protest against the current monopoly - it could be disrupted.

thrdbndndn 5y ago

Point taken. I think ultimately the problem of academia publication isn't the openness of access (which obviously is good if we can have), but the whole system as you mentioned.

cinquemb 5y ago

> This makes it a fairly self-sustaining system. It also makes it hard to break into. It’s no coincidence that the “best” publications also tend to be the oldest. I think that this is also means that it will be slow moving and very fragile to a new system that could incentivize people to undertake all the listed actions above that don't go thru/reliant upon the traditional process. Not saying that we are there yet, nor do I think willingly choosing to submit to any particular jurisdiction in hopes of a favorable outcome will have much effect in the long run (I think systems really change when old systems that served similar functions in some capacity are made obsolete), but as long as tech becomes cheaper, more people become knowledge able about the system as a whole and the incentives involved, more ways of pursuing research will emerge that will be more resilient than hoping for nation state judiciary approval.