4 ms·

A senior editor at a top-tier medical journal told me >5 years ago that they have hired staff dedicated to scrutinizing papers from two countries that have poor

A senior editor at a top-tier medical journal told me >5 years ago that they have hired staff dedicated to scrutinizing papers from two countries that have poor reputations when it comes to submissions. It's not just prestige and the career boost; in some countries there are monetary incentives associated with publishing in the top journals.

aaaaaaaaaaab 4y ago
Which two countries? India and China?
- wrp 4y ago
  Funny story...A few years ago, my online reference hunting turned up a paper from China with three Chinese authors, and also exactly the same paper (down to the formatting and footnotes) from three Indian authors in India.
  - Bakary 4y ago
    It's entirely possible that these were both copies of another paper in another country.
  - still_grokking 4y ago
    Plot twist: That were the same three people, but the paper was actually written by someone else.
- belter 4y ago
  "China tops U.S. in quantity and quality of scientific papers" - https://archive.ph/bemMy https://archive.ph/bemMy
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - overboard2 4y ago
    The article measures the quality of papers produced by a country by the percentage of the world's top 1% cited papers they produced. This seems like it could be gamed.
    - still_grokking 4y ago
      Maybe… ;-) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29061356 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29061356 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27295906 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27295906
SMAAART 4y ago
> in some countries there are monetary incentives associated with publishing in the top journals. Meaning the authors get paid the more they publish? How? Per paper or career advancements-->> higher salary?
- pfortuny 4y ago
  This is for example an incentive for tenured professors in Spain to do research: if you get (Maths here) 5 JCR papers in 6 years of which (this is one of the criteria, there are more) three are in the top tercile, then you get a bonus of 120€/month from that point on (this can be obtained only every 6 years). That has been a good incentive to date (I insist, this is maths and there are very few possibilities for cheating in my field, but of course there are instances), as I see it, because this way you incentivate academic professors to really do research (otherwise one can have a truly leisurely life in Spanish public universities once one gets tenure, without any repercussions).
  - killingtime74 4y ago
    120 euros a month per paper or total? That's only 4 euros a day? That's enough to motivate?
    - pfortuny 4y ago
      Total, total. Well, it is a permanent 120Eu per month (usually inflation adjusted, more or less), which considering that the tenured professor salary starts at like 1800Eu per month, is not so bad (at least it is some incentive). You can end up with 5 (or 6, if lucky) of these. You see: the problem is not the incentive, but the salary itself. (All the numbers above are more or less with taxes and Social Security already discounted). Edit: never underestimate the power of saving and compound interest.
      - killingtime74 4y ago
        Ah if it’s after tax and permanent that’s pretty good

aaaaaaaaaaab 4y ago

Which two countries? India and China?

wrp 4y ago
Funny story...A few years ago, my online reference hunting turned up a paper from China with three Chinese authors, and also exactly the same paper (down to the formatting and footnotes) from three Indian authors in India.
- Bakary 4y ago
  It's entirely possible that these were both copies of another paper in another country.
- still_grokking 4y ago
  Plot twist: That were the same three people, but the paper was actually written by someone else.
belter 4y ago
"China tops U.S. in quantity and quality of scientific papers" - https://archive.ph/bemMy https://archive.ph/bemMy
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- overboard2 4y ago
  The article measures the quality of papers produced by a country by the percentage of the world's top 1% cited papers they produced. This seems like it could be gamed.
  - still_grokking 4y ago
    Maybe… ;-) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29061356 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29061356 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27295906 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27295906

SMAAART 4y ago

> in some countries there are monetary incentives associated with publishing in the top journals. Meaning the authors get paid the more they publish? How? Per paper or career advancements-->> higher salary?

pfortuny 4y ago
This is for example an incentive for tenured professors in Spain to do research: if you get (Maths here) 5 JCR papers in 6 years of which (this is one of the criteria, there are more) three are in the top tercile, then you get a bonus of 120€/month from that point on (this can be obtained only every 6 years). That has been a good incentive to date (I insist, this is maths and there are very few possibilities for cheating in my field, but of course there are instances), as I see it, because this way you incentivate academic professors to really do research (otherwise one can have a truly leisurely life in Spanish public universities once one gets tenure, without any repercussions).
- killingtime74 4y ago
  120 euros a month per paper or total? That's only 4 euros a day? That's enough to motivate?
  - pfortuny 4y ago
    Total, total. Well, it is a permanent 120Eu per month (usually inflation adjusted, more or less), which considering that the tenured professor salary starts at like 1800Eu per month, is not so bad (at least it is some incentive). You can end up with 5 (or 6, if lucky) of these. You see: the problem is not the incentive, but the salary itself. (All the numbers above are more or less with taxes and Social Security already discounted). Edit: never underestimate the power of saving and compound interest.
    - killingtime74 4y ago
      Ah if it’s after tax and permanent that’s pretty good