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Scientific publishing

OK, my blog entry is ready to roll. The link is below - it will be on the front page tomorrow. Anything else I should do?
 
this link to mine is: arstechnica+com/journals/science+ars/2008/11/20/elsevier-beyond-the-pale-of-scientific-respectability

I am not sure when it will go live though. I will edit to add links if they get posted here or sent to me via email.

Also: quixotecoyote. The following links should be enough to tell you that Elsevier needs some pressure from us
www+sciencedirect+com/science/journal/14754916 (Homeopathy) You can't publish this alongside real medical journals and still claim credibility. A publisher who does this deserves as much ridicule as we possibly can on them

If you go to the editorial board of C S & F, you will find that M.S. El Naschie as editor in chief has only a PO box as his address. No affiliation whatsoever--a bit suspicious yes?

The web is littered with blogs from mathematicians with scathing comments about him...
 
The quantum pontif's article is up: scienceblogs+com/pontiff/2008/11/letter_to_an_older_mathematici.php
 
I'm afraid I cannot be of any help here, but I have just been listening to a couple of New Scientist CDs. This publication seems to be very strongly against rubbish, so would they assist you, do you think?
 
Elsevier is well-known for their exorbitant prices, which make it difficult or impossible for researchers in poor countries, or independent researchers without institutional access, to read the papers they publish. In my opinion that's already sufficient reason to avoid publishing in their journals, and I happen to know that many researchers in physics boycott them because of it. This other stuff (which I wasn't aware of) is all the more reason to avoid them. There are plenty of open-access peer-reviewed journals around, and they are the future in any case IMO.

However you cannot not reference papers because you don't like the publisher - that would be scientific fraud.
 
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I had a paper published in an Elsevier-distributed physics journal. Yes, the price is very high, and it does provide a barrier of access to anyone not affiliated with an institute of higher learning (although I know that it is relatively easy for Americans to get access to university libraries and use their subscription service - there is a fee, but it is much less than the Elsevier fee).

That aside, I don't get the purpose of this post - there are bunk journals paying to be published by Elsevier? And for that reason we should boycott the publishing firm, rather than just boycott the journals? I don't think Elsevier claims to do any peer review themselves - let me know if I'm wrong about that!

Edit: Never mind, I see that Elsevier owns the journals in question, along with journals like The Lancet. Still, I don't know how it's even possible to boycott a company like Elsevier.
 
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However you cannot not reference papers because you don't like the publisher - that would be scientific fraud.
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True, and you should cite work that is necessary. However, researchers that publish in Elsevier journals also publish elsewhere, and you may find that they have something as pertinent in those journals. Also, if I were to be cynical about this, I would say that most research articles are not so unique that you can't find an alternative that presents the part of the results that you were citing the Elsevier journal article for.
 
Still, I don't know how it's even possible to boycott a company like Elsevier.
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Live by impact factor, die by impact factor... Don't publish in them, don't cite them (where possible). Its slower than if everyone cancelled their subscriptions, but we don't have direct control over that.
 
aserboy said:
Live by impact factor, die by impact factor... Don't publish in them, don't cite them (where possible).
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Good luck with that.

Edited to add: The most effective method of boycotting Elsevier would be to convince the larger editorial boards (I'm thinking Lancet, primarily) to reform under an alternate publishing house. However, there will always be scientists looking for the clout that comes along with editing for a Big Name Journal, regardless of who owns the Journal or what their practices are.
 
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aserboy said:
True, and you should cite work that is necessary. However, researchers that publish in Elsevier journals also publish elsewhere, and you may find that they have something as pertinent in those journals. Also, if I were to be cynical about this, I would say that most research articles are not so unique that you can't find an alternative that presents the part of the results that you were citing the Elsevier journal article for.
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It's going to be very hard to make the case to scientific researchers that they should cite a less relevant article instead of a more relevant but Elsevier-published one.

If you're serious about this, I suggest you concentrate on getting people to boycott Elsevier for their own publications. If enough authors do that it will suffice.
 
aserboy said:
Live by impact factor, die by impact factor... Don't publish in them, don't cite them (where possible). Its slower than if everyone cancelled their subscriptions, but we don't have direct control over that.
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Impact factor is itself part of the problem here. We know how the somewhat simular google pagerank can be manipulated and impact factor is far more limited.
 
sol invictus said:
It's going to be very hard to make the case to scientific researchers that they should cite a less relevant article instead of a more relevant but Elsevier-published one.

If you're serious about this, I suggest you concentrate on getting people to boycott Elsevier for their own publications. If enough authors do that it will suffice.
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From the original post

As a scientific publisher Elsevier lives by impact factor, so I also suggest that the scientists amongst us, wherever possible, do not cite work published in Elsevier journals and submit your work to the journals of other publishers.
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emphasis is mine
 
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