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Asked by Try cheesy to Angus on 21 Jun 2016.
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Angus Cook answered on 21 Jun 2016:
I’d make it easier to share knowledge between scientists. At the moment we have to write up our ideas and results in a scientific paper (a bit like a report), and then submit this paper to a scientific journal.
This journal will then ask some other scientists to check the paper, to make sure it’s new work, and that it’s communicated and explained clearly. The journal will then agree to publish the paper in their (usually) monthly collection of other papers from other scientists in your field of research.
Other scientists can then buy that journal to keep up to date with what other people are discovering in their area.
The problem is that (in general) you need to pay both to submit your paper to a journal, AND to subscribe to read that journal.
Some journals (because there are many different ones) say you don’t have to pay to submit, but that means that other people have to pay to read your work. You can also choose to have your work be able to be accessed for free, but that means you need to pay to submit it.I’ve met other scientists who I’d like to share a paper with, but they can’t access that paper because they don’t have a subscription to that particular journal.
So I think if I could make one change, it would be to have scientific research published and accessible for free.
(This is a wish, which means that I don’t have to think too hard about the feasibility and consequences of this 🙂 )
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Comments
Jenni commented on :
Great answer Angus! I completely agree.
Did you know that most people who work for the government don’t have access to most scientific research. I find it really shocking that the people who get to make many of the most important decisions about people’s lives can’t access the evidence that they need.
Angus commented on :
I didn’t know that, I’m equally shocked!