[sito42]

Author reputation and citation patterns provide plenty(?) of signal without journal/reviewer/editor endorsement. But you could still imagine introducing “badges” that provide similar additional signal to what publication in a top journal provides today. Academic societies issue a fixed number of badges to top preprints each year. But ditch the song and dance around peer review.

[gus_massa]

> citation patterns provide plenty(?) of signal

There are self citations and citation rings. The signal is very week, even with the curren model.

> introducing “badges”

You reinvented journals.

[sito42]

> There are self citations and citation rings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigenfactor and other such indices are much less game-able

Peer review (as currently practiced) and closed access are the problems, not the quality signal provided by journal publication.