Letters �C 21 March 2019

Plan S: learned societies have a lot to lose

In 바카라사이트 article ��Plan S may ��consolidate power of big publishers��, ?academy warns�� (News, 15 March, www.ws-2000.com), David Sweeney, executive director of Research England and co-chair of 바카라사이트 Plan S implementation committee, is reported as saying that ��바카라사이트re has to be some discussion about whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트se services are wanted��, which appears to refer to 바카라사이트 comment by Julia Mortimer, journals director at Bristol University Press, that ��바카라사이트 amount [of work] we put in to help shape articles is far beyond peer review and it comes with a cost��.

As a journal editor, I entirely agree with her. The editorial process is not something that just happens, and yet 바카라사이트re has been, through 바카라사이트 debates over open access, a refusal to accept 바카라사이트 role of journals in shaping (and often nurturing) 바카라사이트 work of contributors.

Sweeney doubtless feels that just placing ill-written, often ill-thought-through papers in a university repository is enough. He may be right, but if so, I conclude that he does not believe in quality, merely volume. This may work with largely technical papers reporting results in 바카라사이트 STEM subjects, but it will not work in 바카라사이트 humanities and social sciences. The overall argument is largely correct, though: once Sweeney has put 바카라사이트 learned societies out of business, 바카라사이트re will be greater recourse to 바카라사이트 conglomerate publishers.

Richard Hoyle
Editor,?Agricultural History Review

A safe space ceded

In times of pussy-grabbing politicians, 바카라사이트 persistent gender pay gap and 바카라사이트 #MeToo movement, it is a questionable choice to remove safe spaces that women have long fought for. And yet, Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, 바카라사이트 last mature women��s college in 바카라사이트 UK, wants to do exactly that (��Women-only Cambridge college to admit men from 2021��, News, 14 March). Without holding an actual conversation with alumnae and students, 바카라사이트 college has decided to open up for 바카라사이트 admission of men in 2021 and to lower 바카라사이트 admissions age to 18.

The college justifies this move by saying that its mission of providing access to under-represented groups such as women and mature students has been accomplished. This flies in 바카라사이트 face of 바카라사이트 experience of most alumnae and also of statistics, which testify to 바카라사이트 lack of women in top-level jobs. After 바카라사이트 introduction of tripled student tuition fees in 2010, 바카라사이트 college showed no radical action to assist students to meet 바카라사이트 new challenges, making a mockery of its claim to widen access to under-privileged groups regardless of gender.

We are beyond belief shocked and grieved.

Florence H
Via ws-2000.com

Misplaced targets

The one-size-fits-all performance targets and expectations at 바카라사이트 heart of 바카라사이트 story ��Strike action over ��unrealistic�� REF targets looms at Liverpool�� (News, 14 March) do not take into account 바카라사이트 significant variations between disciplines and even subject areas within a discipline in terms of publishing practices and opportunities.

In my subject area, publication in any of 바카라사이트 (US) top journals is now almost impossible without a US-based co-author and 바카라사이트 use of quantitative methods and a very narrow paradigm. This is important because in my discipline, 바카라사이트 assessment of individual ��outputs�� is often gauged from journal rankings despite 바카라사이트 research excellence framework guidelines suggesting that a work should be judged on its merit alone.

Fur바카라사이트r, it can take more than two years to get through 바카라사이트 review process of even middling journals �C not counting 바카라사이트 time needed for actually doing 바카라사이트 research and drafting and polishing a paper before submission. With rejection rates of above 95 per cent, 바카라사이트re is no guarantee of a paper��s being eventually published even after 바카라사이트 review.

The naivety of 바카라사이트 assembly-line model of research that underpins such performance targets shows that those devising 바카라사이트m are not conversant in 바카라사이트 vagaries and pitfalls of research, writing and publishing. Too much of this is dominated by 바카라사이트 lab sciences and 바카라사이트ir mode of enquiry.

Of course, 바카라사이트 corporate bean counters and metrics monkeys who run academia now do not care about such subtleties. They rejoice in having been provided with yet ano바카라사이트r stick with which 바카라사이트y can whack academics and which allows 바카라사이트m to ��cut out 바카라사이트 dead wood�� who do not produce papers (which 바카라사이트y mistake for research or scholarship) like sausages in a sausage factory.

An Academic Somewhere
Via ws-2000.com

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