You mean all the work the grad students do when they write the content.... And all the work other grad students do when they typeset it? Sure. Apologist.
Very few people understand how the academic publishing industry works, so don't be so fast to smack this person down. The fact is that the authors do all the content and technical editing work, and unpaid volunteers do all the peer review work, and depending on journal, either underpaid or unpaid editors do the coordinating between then, with the exception of very few top journals. The publishers generally do the typesetting, which is a minimal amount of work compared to everything else, and hold the exclusive license to distribute the work, which is essentially all the value of the paper. Most will force authors to give them the exclusive right to destroy people's lives for copyright reasons without the author's consent.
"So by your judgement, all these folks could be sacked and nothing of value would be lost?"
I would argue that value would be gained by sacking these people (and organizations).
Most of the money they (and other journals) uses is dependent on excessive licensing fees charged to universities. The universities turn around and add that to each person's tuition.
And all the work the journal publishes WAS owned by the students of the very university, until the journal demands transfer of copyright to the journal... So they can sell them back work at 1000X the profit.
By definition, they are parasites. What we need is a good anti-parasitic medicine.
Kliment|13 years ago
TheAmazingIdiot|13 years ago
I'm sorry, cmsmith.
streptomycin|13 years ago
TheAmazingIdiot|13 years ago
I would argue that value would be gained by sacking these people (and organizations).
Most of the money they (and other journals) uses is dependent on excessive licensing fees charged to universities. The universities turn around and add that to each person's tuition.
And all the work the journal publishes WAS owned by the students of the very university, until the journal demands transfer of copyright to the journal... So they can sell them back work at 1000X the profit.
By definition, they are parasites. What we need is a good anti-parasitic medicine.