Could the solution be "don't actually tie it to the journal"? Have the journal treat itself more as an implementation detail than as an end in itself; you didn't publish a paper in the Journal of Lasers, you just published a paper about lasers.
This is still a mental shift for academics to get over, but I wonder if it's a more feasible one.
Re:A Possible Fix for Scientific Publishing
by dbingham on Sunday August 07, 2022 @01:01PM
(#32377895)
Yeah, that may be. But it seems worth trying given all the negative impacts of the status quo.
Re:A Possible Fix for Scientific Publishing
by Test0129 on Sunday August 07, 2022 @09:52PM
(#32381723)
I'm not saying to _not_ try it. It's just going to be a dumpster-fire-money-pit that has an extremely high probability of either bankrupting you or producing nothing of significant value. This isn't a shot at OP. The best way to force change here isn't yet another journal, but rather fix the access issues of current journals, convince them it's a good idea to be less exclusive (ever noticed certain initials tend to be published more than others?), and moreover stop the university-journal death-bond that currently is in the market.
Good luck at any rate.
This task is insurmountable for the most part. At least with the current way academia works. Current journals have been around for decades, sometimes even reaching the 100 year mark. Back in the ye olde days it was easy for anyone to publish anything (even non-academics). These days these journals are so deeply entrenched in the minds of academics it would be like convincing 10% of fortune 500 companies to switch from excel to your new cool software. Even it's it better they won't because of this mental block.