Posters in the sciences: chat on current journal culture?

[Nessus]

Well, Australian public is entitled to free access to the research they funded. If that research is also given or sold to some other organization, that is, or should be, an issue between the Australian public and the seller/giver, as I see it.

But the work of the Aussies would not make sense, contribute to science, without the work of me, the guys funded by US and Finland, UK and US, and so forth. Why are we all giving a free ride to Orstralllioorr?

[CitizenCain]

To be fair to your heritage, the only "stan" would be Finland anyway, given that Norway's always been in NATO and Sweden has been suckling on that teat as well.

Well, Canada == Canuckistan. The -stan suffix is not so much about what territory the Soviets occupied, as what countries in the world still desperately cling to the remnants of communism. So we could start calling the United Kingdom UKistan (pronounced Yuk-i-stan or Yuk-ee-stan) and now that I've just said it out loud, I think it's really apt, succinctly capturing the UK's yucky essence, as well as its communist essence.

Huh. And since "Pakistanis" refers to people from Pakistan, that would mean "Yuckis" would be the term to use for people from Yuckistan, I think. Awesome.

OK, I'm doing that now. UK == Yuckistan.

But the work of the Aussies would not make sense, contribute to science, without the work of me, the guys funded by US and Finland, UK and US, and so forth. Why are we all giving a free ride to Orstralllioorr?

I dunno, because that's where termite's from and we like termite?

Or because it was their research us lot built off of? Or because the Ozzies let us get a free ride off their public research to begin with, so reciprocity? I dunno. I'm not saying the Aussies should or should not be given a free ride on the fruits of other countries' public research, just that the tax payers who pay for whatever research ought to be entitled to access it freely. I guess if a country wants to go all RIAA on their citizens and try to enforce an embargo or licensing fees on that information going to other countries or organizations, well, good luck with that, but it's a separate issue from who's entitled to the research in the first place.

[Nessus]

Well, Canada == Canuckistan. The -stan suffix is not so much about what territory the Soviets occupied, as what countries in the world still desperately cling to the remnants of communism. So we could start calling the United Kingdom UKistan (pronounced Yuk-i-stan or Yuk-ee-stan) and now that I've just said it out loud, I think it's really apt, succinctly capturing the UK's yucky essence, as well as its communist essence.

Huh. And since "Pakistanis" refers to people from Pakistan, that would mean "Yuckis" would be the term to use for people from Yuckistan, I think. Awesome.

OK, I'm doing that now. UK == Yuckistan.

Finland was the only Axis power (and one of the few European states) that wasn't occupied after WW2; I just figured you'd be the kind of guy who'd be all "Finlandization" this and "Finlandization" that.

I dunno, because that's where termite's from and we like termite?

Or because it was their research us lot built off of? Or because the Ozzies let us get a free ride off their public research to begin with, so reciprocity? I dunno. I'm not saying the Aussies should or should not be given a free ride on the fruits of other countries' public research, just that the tax payers who pay for whatever research ought to be entitled to access it freely. I guess if a country wants to go all RIAA on their citizens and try to enforce an embargo or licensing fees on that information going to other countries or organizations, well, good luck with that, but it's a separate issue from who's entitled to the research in the first place.

But the Aussie bit of research would be absolutely useless without the Finnish (or alternatively, hmm, Swiss or French) collaboration, so if the Aussies get to enjoy the fruits of this labour, surely Finns (or the Swiss and Frenchies) should as well?

And the guy who brought the sample gets a pay-check from Uncle Sam, too. Shouldn't you get the fruits, too?

[Loki]

Speaking of scientific journals:

http://www.economist.com/node/21528593