Comment on Publisher Wants $2,500 To Allow Academics To Post Their Own Manuscript To Their Own Repository
pennomi@lemmy.world 8 months agoThat’s a culture problem that could be fixed with collective bargaining. Everyone knows it’s wrong, they just don’t have the balls to fights against it.
magnor@lemmy.magnor.ovh 8 months ago
That is a very hasty and reductive opinion to my mind. While I absolutely agree with you on what the issue is, this is a complex problem and not a question of genital appendages.
It is impossible for young researchers to “earn” a permanent position without giving their soul and toil to this system. This makes sure that the people actually “succeeding” are the ones less likely to actually go against the system, since it benefited them. The ones that do try are hopelessly alone, and no amount of male gonads is going to help them change the culture.
Zeth0s@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Thanks for saying this. This is the absolute main problem of academia. It select people who don’t want to change a failing system because they are great at gaming that system. This is also the reason average quality academic researchers has dropped so much, while the best minds moved to industry, doing incredibly well very mundane tasks.
magnor@lemmy.magnor.ovh 8 months ago
They are great at gaming that system and that system gives them the impression they are the most brilliant people to ever grace the earth. Don’t get me wrong, many are indeed brilliant, but the degree of self proving masochism that is academia would turn anyone into a raging narcissist.
Zeth0s@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I used to work in academia in a field where salaries in financial and tech industries are pretty good. The best people left. Most who stayed were average at best with great egos. Only 1 person deserved to stay and he is now living in a shithole city, with a salary that is 1/3rd of mine as lecturer.
It is a broken system
eran_morad@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Eh. I’ve rubbed elbows with maybe 20 Nobel laureates. Meaning, I’ve spent a good amount of time in the system, at the elite end. Being a prof at Very Prestigious University is not in any way a guarantee of raw intelligence.
nulluser@programming.dev 8 months ago
Reminds me of the current American political system and the politicians it selects for us.
eran_morad@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I mean, it’s also a question of poor mentorship, money, and work-life balance. I make a lot more money than I would in academia, working fewer hours, less frequently having to bend to some egomaniacal tyrant’s will. Sure as hell beats the tenure track.
pennomi@lemmy.world 8 months ago
The current publishing cartel is like an abusive spouse in this situation. They gaslight you into thinking there’s no way for you to survive without them, but they are the ones who would suffer without you.
It would take less than 12 months for the system to completely collapse if there was a general publishing strike. But people are paralyzed by the idea of leaving that abusive system in favor of a far superior unknown.