This letter is associated with the following article:
Letters
Thursday, January 25, 2007 12:00 AM

Science publishers get stupid

Read other letters about this article

  • Friday, January 26, 2007 05:11 AM

    Let's slow down here a minute

    While I agree that free information is a public good, and that the people should have access to the research they pay for, there is something else to consider here.

    The strength of science publishing is the peer-review process. This anonymous and sometimes brutal process (in combination with solid editing) is responsible for the quality of the articles published in journals. It is also not free. If you remove that part of the process, you remove one of the major reasons why science, as a process, is so powerful. And you damage the quality of the science you do publish.

    Science is not a democracy, where everyone is entitled to have their say. Your work has to earn the right to be heard by being good enough. Any "free" information process which doesn't have a peer-review and editing process will do far more damage to science that it will benefit science.

Most Active Letters Threads

359

A key British official reminds us of the forgotten anthrax attack

A vast array of establishment and expert sources do not believe this episode was really resolved.
323

Tough-guy John Bolton, hiding under his bed

As usual, right-wing pseudo-warriors are drowning in extreme cowardice.
178

Is Obama's civil liberties record understandable?

Was it unreasonable to expect him to adhere to his commitments regarding the Constitution?
154

Phil Carter's resignation from key detainee policy post

Many of the "War on Terror" policies he spent years condemning were ones expressly embraced by Obama.
99

Palin, Prejean: Beastly treatment for beauties

The governor turned author must fight what the pageant queen learned: Politics and hotness make strange bedfellows

View all »

Letters Help

Currently in Salon