this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] jet@hackertalks.com 200 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This isn't a meme, it's a crime

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 62 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

There are literally tens of thousands of people in academia who could build a transparent, open-source, non-profit publishing system of their own.

Why don't they?

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 82 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There is a transitioning happening but progress churns slowly. I like to compare it to getting out of an abusive relationship.

https://sparcopen.org/our-work/big-deal-knowledge-base/unbundling-profiles/mit-libraries/

https://tagteam.harvard.edu/hubs/oatp/items

[–] xspurnx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 weeks ago

It's happening in Germany as well. Universities are banding together to negotiate better deals with publishers - some subscriptions haven't been renewed when the publishers weren't forthcoming. It's not a solution (that would be the wide establishment of independent, self organized/hosted Open Access journals - using Open Journal Systems for example) but it's a start.

https://deal-konsortium.de/en/

[–] daddy32@lemmy.world 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Corruption - at the highest level.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

Well I don't know about "highest" level.

It's in some ways worse than that. it's institutional corruption and collusion across all levels of power within institutions. Not having access to pear review, journals, the gravitas, the funding sources:it creates a monopoly of power for all players in the system where they aren't benefited by opening up access

[–] howrar@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

I don't know about other fields, but we did do this for AI. It's all community-run, papers are freely available for everyone to read, and the cost of submission in a peer-reviewed venue is to review other papers. The publishers don't actually provide anything of value except name recognition and being "reputable", which they maintain through momentum.

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[–] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 180 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Remember folks, if you pirate scientific papers you're stealing from the hard working......wait a minute....

[–] Renacles@lemmy.world 64 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

You wouldn't download a car

[–] casmael@lemm.ee 64 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 40 points 2 weeks ago

I'd 3D print that shit so hard on my shitty little Ender.

[–] Renacles@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

Why stop at one?

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[–] howrar@lemmy.ca 149 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Academic Authors: $0

FAKE NEWS

This should be in the negatives. We have to pay to get papers published in these traditional journals.

[–] mumblerfish@lemmy.world 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

And sometimes open access costs money for the author too.

[–] xspurnx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Don't forget the university libraries. Yup, researchers are paid by the university, those researchers pay the publishers to place their articles, the peer reviewers are also paid by the university. And then the university has to shell out money to the publishers, so the articles can be accessed.

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[–] darki@lemmy.world 91 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

and don't use Sci-hub people. I am warning ⚠️ you so you can avoid it 🫡

[–] rustydrd@sh.itjust.works 63 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Thank you for the warning. I almost received free and convenient access to a large catalog of academic articles, and no one wants that.

[–] ArchRecord@lemm.ee 30 points 2 weeks ago

I, too have seen the ability of Sci-Hub to give me free access to research papers.

It's terrifying how easy it is to get access to scientific literature for free! Wouldn't recommend to anyone.

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[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 23 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] xspurnx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 2 weeks ago

Came here to post this. It's so evil, it even has ebooks meant for entertainment.

Never visit downmagaz either!

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[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

dont ever use this, it has almost everything

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[–] mEEGal@lemmy.world 51 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

but wait...

where meme part ?

[–] Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 25 points 2 weeks ago

Internet memes come from the original concept of memes as an element of culture passed on from person to person.

From Wikipedia's "internet meme" article.

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[–] Snapz@lemmy.world 45 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

New textbooks have disappearing ink that only lasts, about one semester, until a month before finals, and then in that month they trigger dynamic pricing increases due to a stronger than typical demand...

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 34 points 2 weeks ago

Don't give them ideas.

[–] yamanii@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

Don't give them ideas for free.

[–] JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world 42 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

NGL if I was a college professor in this situation I'd be pirating my own work fuck these guys

[–] YtA4QCam2A9j7EfTgHrH@infosec.pub 29 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Very frequently you can email the author of the paper and they will be super happy to send you a copy.

[–] barnaclebutt@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago

I do it all the time. Something something sci-hub. If you ask, the authors will almost always share a preprint.

[–] demizerone@lemmy.world 36 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Just like the Olympics. The companies are vampire squids.

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

vampire squid makes them sound cute, they are literally the scum of the earth: They are leeching billions from what is normally a tax funded sector and on the side heavily polarising publishing and access to science in favor of rich countries.

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[–] Kanda@reddthat.com 19 points 2 weeks ago

That's unfair to both vampires and squids

[–] eldain@feddit.nl 33 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I too want to open a business where both customers and suppliers pay me. Do you know any more gullible sectors? Academics are pretty extorted already it seems.

[–] Fermion@feddit.nl 14 points 2 weeks ago

Real estate seems to be a popular place for seemingly unnecessary middlemen.

[–] KingGordon@lemmy.world 33 points 2 weeks ago

Just here to say fuck Elsevier.

[–] ace_garp@lemmy.world 31 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Or, publish to PLOS ONE, the open-access science journal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLOS_One

[–] gandalf_der_12te@lemmy.blahaj.zone 22 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

As of April 2021, PLOS One charges a publication fee of $1,745 to publish an article.

I mean, seriously, I would like to publish to one of these, but who has the money to do that?

[–] ikilledlaurapalmer@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

I mean, if you consider how much a study costs to get to the point of publication, the publication costs are peanuts in comparison.

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[–] MBM@lemmings.world 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There are many other open-access journals, for example these: https://freejournals.org/. But yes, open-access is the way.

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[–] banana_havoc@lemm.ee 30 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Reviewers and writers actually do get a stipend, but it's a token amount like 200 bucks a year. This industry is the most ass backward incentive structure we could possibly create, the only reason writers would provide articles to a journal is literally for the clout.

[–] cassowary@lemm.ee 32 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Really? I’ve reviewed and published a good chunk of papers and never received any financial compensation.

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[–] barnaclebutt@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I've never gotten a stipend or heard of someone getting a stipend for publishing or reviewing manuscripts. The only thing I've been offered is access to the journal.

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[–] HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 27 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] ulterno@lemmy.kde.social 8 points 2 weeks ago

TIL: In the PotC universe, The legs of the pier are noclip underwater.

[–] Bacano@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

As much as I'm against parasitic practices, I wonder how the inevitable corruption of money would (further) skew research if academia was well paid for their papers.

[–] thevoidzero@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

We're not saying pay the authors a bunch, we're saying make the papers free to read. Or at least don't charge authors and readers both, while keeping all the money for yourself.

[–] Benaaasaaas@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

And I wonder how, not having the pressure to "succeed" research (to gain further grants), would increase the quality of said research.

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[–] shasta@lemm.ee 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Why are we looking at revenue? We don't know the operating costs. What are the profit margins?

[–] TheLowestStone@lemmy.world 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

According to Wikipedia, in 2022 Elsevier's revenue was 2.909 billion pounds and their net income was 2.021 billion pounds.

Not going to bother looking up the rest.

[–] DR_Hero@programming.dev 8 points 2 weeks ago

There's a much more accurate stat... and it's disgusting

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