109: Scientific Publishing

What are the flaws in scientific publishing, who's responsible, and how can we fix it?

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Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:02:47) Scientific Publishing Part I

(00:35:57) Scientific Publishing Part II

(01:13:07) Outro

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We also learn about: We almost do the same grim joke, the live show will have 50% more hosts than this, before publications there were societies and books and letters, in 1665 a Henry Oldenburg of the royal society starts “Philosophical Transactions”, the longest continuous journal (ignoring the time Olderburg was put in a tower for criticizing the king), the discovery of Jupiter’s red spot and also a deformed calf, Newton’s Optics was published in Philosophical Transactions first, Science has bad SEO, the doubling time of papers is 14 years since the 1950s, Ella’s peer review process, errors can be missed and biases affected, not paying reviewers is a bug that’s labelled as a feature, government funded research can still be privately owned, we’ve all agreed “processing fee” just means bullshit, there’s some things I don’t want to be “fun”, Elsevier has a 38% profit margin while Alphabet’s is 32%, editorial resignations in protest, I’m excited to add Robert Maxwell to my Arya Stark list of people, Maxwell died on his yes-that-Ghislaine-Maxwell Yacht, the scheme to buyout scientists for their papers, cover upfront costs - own copyright - flood with new journals - reap the subscription costs, “jesus wept”, retractions are growing by about 20% each year, I’m buying Ella a dictionary so she can learn what “fun” means, fool me 239 time shame on me, paper mills, predatory journals are pay to win, the Chinese restaurant metaphor keeps staying accurate, no it’s not nature our journal is nurture, is this finally rock bottom? the public review curate model, the pros and cons of preprints, diamond open access, the nelson memo, “I think the Ghislaine Mawell death yacht is fun”.

Sources: Royal Society: History of Scientific Journals Royal Society: Philosophical Transactions The Early Years Royal Society: Philosophical Transactions Issue 1 University College London: A History of Scientific Journals Philosophical Transactions A: Newton Shows the Light Royal Society Notes and Records: 350 Years of Scientific Periodicals Broad Research Communication Lab: Peer Review - a Historical Perspective Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications: Growth Rates of Modern Science JSTOR: The History of Peer Review is More Interesting Than You Think British Journal of Biomedical Science: The Peer Review Process: Past, Present, and Future Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine: Peer Review: A Flawed Process at the Heart of Science and Journals The Conversation: Academic Publishing is a Multibillion Dollar Industry New Scientists: Time to Break Academic Publishing’s Stranglehold on Research The Lancet: Should Peer Reviewers Be Paid? Guardian: Is the Staggeringly Profitable Business of Scientific Publishing Bad for Science? (Robert Maxwell Longread) Research Professional News: Elsevier Profit Guardian: George Monbiot on Academic Publishers Retraction Watch: Statistics and Computing Resignation Guardian: The Murky Life of Robert Maxwell Journal of the Academy of Public Health: The Rise and Fall of Scientific Journals and a Way Forward EBSCO Research: Publish or Perish Paradox University of Technology Sydney: The ‘Publish or Perish’ Mentality is Undermining Science Retraction Watch: COVID Retractions Retraction Watch: Most Cited Retraction Watch: Retractions by Nobel Prize Winners Retraction Watch: Most Retractions British Medical Journal: Boldt the Great Pretender Nato Strategic Communication Centre: Disinformation and Scholarly Communications The Conversation: Paper Mills Toxicologic Pathology: Predatory Journals: What They Are and How to Avoid Them The Lancet: Lessons From the Influx of Preprints During the Early COVID-19 Pandemic The Conversation: Diamond Open Access San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)

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