Discussion about this post

User's avatar
davidmanheim's avatar

Yeah, I completely agree that the incentives for academia - science or otherwise - are broken and most publications are garbage.

Expand full comment
physicistdave's avatar

Anyone interested in the current dysfunction in academic science should also read a current article on Nature's website about mental depression among grad students.

Perhaps most relevant to our discussion here is a comment from a Ph.D. student in Sweden, Franziska Frank:

Sometimes I question my worth to society, and this doubt has added to my feelings of depression. Everyone is publishing and publishing because that’s where the money in science comes from. But if everyone is publishing and nobody is reading, are we making a contribution?

That pretty much sums it up. Nearly forty years ago, my own thesis advisor told me not to bother keeping up on the current journals because most of what was in them was garbage. Being an idealistic young fellow, I ignored his advice and tried to read the journals.

He was right, and it has only gotten worse since then.

We need to face the truth about academic science.

Expand full comment
14 more comments...

No posts