is much faster on blogs or wikis than with printed journals. It is also much faster there than within the patent system, which can take years from application to publication.
In many cases, that does not matter ever so much. The consumer gets a new technology later, but eventually it makes it through the system.
As Glyn Moody explains, that is different when the subject is gene sequencing of the bird flu virus.
The results of research in that area could save millions of lives if available in a timely way. It is not, however.
Moody says that is because
"some scientists want to be able to publish their results in slow-moving printed journals first so as to be sure that they are accorded full credit by their peers"
If this is true, whatever government is funding the research should order the scientists concerned to publish their results immediately, and then again later in printed journals.
And the "credit by their peers" should be greater for something that actually helps to save lives by being available in time than for an article about how 50 million lives could have been saved if the article had appeared 15 months ago.
Link found at Open Access News.
Posted by Karl-Friedrich Lenz at April 1, 2006 01:30 PM