this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] jet@hackertalks.com 204 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 63 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months 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 85 points 3 months 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 3 months 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 25 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Corruption - at the highest level.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months 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 3 months ago (6 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 184 points 3 months 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 3 months ago (2 children)

You wouldn't download a car

[–] casmael@lemm.ee 67 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 40 points 3 months ago

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

[–] Renacles@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago

Why stop at one?

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[–] howrar@lemmy.ca 153 points 3 months 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 24 points 3 months ago (1 children)

And sometimes open access costs money for the author too.

[–] xspurnx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 3 months 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 96 points 3 months ago (4 children)

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

[–] rustydrd@sh.itjust.works 64 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months 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 31 points 3 months 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 25 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] xspurnx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 3 months 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 14 points 2 months ago

dont ever use this, it has almost everything

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

but wait...

where meme part ?

[–] Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 26 points 3 months 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 46 points 3 months 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 3 months ago

Don't give them ideas.

[–] yamanii@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago

Don't give them ideas for free.

[–] JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world 42 points 3 months 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 30 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months 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 18 points 3 months 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 38 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Just like the Olympics. The companies are vampire squids.

[–] Kanda@reddthat.com 22 points 2 months ago

That's unfair to both vampires and squids

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 21 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months 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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[–] eldain@feddit.nl 36 points 3 months 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 17 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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

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[–] banana_havoc@lemm.ee 33 points 3 months ago (7 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 37 points 3 months 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 13 points 3 months 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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[–] blackbrook@mander.xyz 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

They all got bought up by venture capitalists like a decade or more more ago, and this is the result.

They were already backward, but now they are backward, ruthless about cost cutting, and care about nothing but profits.

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[–] KingGordon@lemmy.world 33 points 3 months ago

Just here to say fuck Elsevier.

[–] ace_garp@lemmy.world 30 points 3 months 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 23 points 2 months 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?

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[–] MBM@lemmings.world 21 points 3 months 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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[–] HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 27 points 3 months ago (1 children)
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[–] TheChemist@hexbear.net 24 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I heard that, you are legally allowed to Email the Academic Authors, and request said articles, which they are allowed to provide for free.

[–] cassowary@lemm.ee 19 points 3 months ago

Absolutely. Plus scientists love when people want to actually read their work so you make their day too!

[–] Bacano@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago (3 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 10 points 2 months 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.

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[–] shasta@lemm.ee 15 points 2 months ago (5 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 months 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 months ago

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

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