Scientific discovery progresses best when the results are communicated to fellow scientists. Also, prestigious awards like prizes, presentations at scientific meetings, and journal publications play a crucial role.
The desire for credit is embedded in scientific norms and culture, but structural changes in science’s research and publishing ecosystems create new challenges to proper attribution.
1. Editorial Process
Scientific publishing is the medium through which scientists share research findings and evidence with each other and the wider world. It forms the basis for scientific self-correction and underpins international scientific collaboration, essential to solving global challenges, from climate change to pandemic response.
In the research community, the prestige of a journal is still closely linked to its reputation and a researcher’s credit and merit. External recognition of publication in a peer-reviewed journal is often essential to promoting and advancing academic scientists.
Publishers like Bentham Science Publishers also play an essential role in enforcing ethical standards and promoting public trust in science. However, this is a shared responsibility with authors, institutions, and funding organizations. They must uphold the scientific commitment to search for truth, accept responsibility for the work that bears their names, and fully disclose any conflicts of interest.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, publishers stepped in quickly to make their subscription articles on the virus freely available – contributing to the speed and accuracy of research that led to quick progress and the development of vaccines. Publishers also worked with platforms such as SeamlessAccess to improve the experience for researchers when working remotely and to enable them to continue accessing their content when they changed departments or universities.
2. Open Access
Whether you’re a patient seeking medical advice, an educator enlivening a lesson plan, or a researcher pursuing a new hypothesis, open-access publishing like Bentham Open makes your work freely available to anyone with an internet connection. This allows more people to see and read your work, increase usage and impact.
There are several different approaches to open access (OA). The most widely implemented is Green OA, which involves publishing in a subscription journal as usual but then depositing the article in an institution- or subject-based repository upon publication, making it immediately accessible to anyone with an internet connection.
Open access also takes the form of preprints, which are shared on online platforms before, or sometimes during, a formal peer review process. Preprints are typically provided with a digital object identifier to ensure they can be tracked. This reduces the risk that authors’ work will be accidentally or deliberately “scooped” without proper acknowledgment and citation. This helps prevent plagiarism, a serious breach of academic integrity.
3. Impact
Publishers are a relatively small cog in the research process, but they play an essential role. They can help to improve the speed of discovery and build trust by supporting openness and collaboration. They can also support diverse authors and audiences as they work together to publish, share, and validate research.
Before World War II, university presses and learned societies handled much of the labor associated with scientific journals, relying on subscription fees and donations from foundations to cover their costs. Government funding agencies poured money into science during and after the war, and publishers took on many new publishing responsibilities.
Final Words
The for-profit publishers use enormous resources to convince funders, researchers, and other decision-makers that they are indispensable to the research process. They argue that others need help sharing, distributing, and advancing knowledge. Many scientists, however, question the need for a middleman in an age of dyn