I wonder if Open Access is really just a distraction from what we really should be focussed on. I have a PhD and I publish strongly in my field. However, I really struggle to understand the vast majority of scientific publications that are not specifically in my field (and many that are) and reading academic papers is a bloody slow way of getting information. Is academic publishing an archaic, slow distraction to sharing our results in an understandable way? Should we as academics be putting more effort into blogs, newspapers, opinion pieces, social media, public meetings, infographics, videos, brochures etc to get our findings out there in a way that people can understand? Can post-publication review replace the current review process? Interested in your thoughts.
https://youtu.be/kLPBTn4TKjI
You are right that a better way to communicate scientific results for the general public or the interested reader is needed.
However, to defend the current publication process: the papers and articles archive the research results and can be found decades after the publication. I doubt blogs and social media can fill this role.
Also, the review process at least filters a part of the noise that some people mistake for scientific contributions. Because basically anyone can write anything in their blog, so it is hard to find out what is worth reading. Just looking at the number of people who agree with post for example does not indicate that it is true.
So a little for infotainment is necessary, but it should not turn into a circus where the loudest contender wins and the actual hard, boring contributions are losing out.
We really need to communicate our findings to a non-scientific audience. I like the idea of post-publication reviews. I think the non-scientific audience will appreciate scientific findings if it is rather communicated orally maybe in some sort of think tank platform in very simple and common language
i do agree with you Ian Michael McLeod . Surprisingly open access is a tool through which you can put the food on the table, which is of no use from days.. may be non scientific scholar can approach you for the same. so it is not a bad idea to put your research on open domain, so that atleast it can be explored by someone. regards
I think that getting our findings out in a way that people can understand is a part of our job, because often people ask me what I have discovered or what is really an application of my project. So this could be considered a part of our job that enables our to communicate easier and in a way that promotes the exchange among our research in a way that is more productive. Research publishing has to be thought as a dual goal: for research groups that have in common the matter and for people that could contribute with their money and sensibility to research (thinking to italy in wich research is based little on public resources).
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