Publishing, perishing, and peer review
Could new kinds of electronic publishing rescue academia from its long-running “journals crisis”?
AN OBSCURE academic journal with a few hundred subscribers may seem like no way to make a fast buck, or indeed any bucks at all. Nonetheless, thousands of the most off-beat and little-read serials—with such gripping titles as Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, Solid State Ionics and Metal Powder Report—are produced by commercial publishing houses at profit margins of 40% or more. It was, indeed, such riches that helped support the lifestyle of the late Robert Maxwell, a scoundrel who made his early fortune from the worthy business of publishing the scientific world's latest discoveries.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Publishing, perishing, and peer review”
From the January 24th 1998 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Science & technology
Can you breathe stress away?
Scientists are only beginning to understand the links between the breath and the mind
The Economist’s science and technology internship
We invite applications for the 2025 Richard Casement internship
A better understanding of Huntington’s disease brings hope
Previous research seems to have misinterpreted what is going on
Is obesity a disease?
It wasn’t. But it is now
Volunteers with Down’s syndrome could help find Alzheimer’s drugs
Those with the syndrome have more of a protein implicated in dementia
Should you start lifting weights?
You’ll stay healthier for longer if you’re strong