The Conflict of Paying to Publish in Scientific Journals
Moving towards Open Access publishing
Scientific articles are published in specialised journals in different areas of knowledge. The aim of these journals is to allow researchers to disseminate the knowledge they have generated after carrying out their studies and experiments so that other researchers can learn about it. If these articles did not exist, several researchers in the same discipline could work on the same experiment without knowing it, investing time, money and effort in repeating the same study.
Therefore, the publication of scientific results is a necessity for the advancement of science. The problem begins when the system becomes corrupted and turns into a money-making machine that only benefits publishers.
Today, a researcher’s career is valued and evaluated on the basis of the number of publications. This number has become the currency of science. Getting a job or moving up in the academic world depends almost exclusively on the number of scientific articles published and the impact factor (number of citations they receive) they have. The pressure to publish is so great that disputes over being on the list of authors of a scientific article are the order of the day. Although there are rules defining who should sign an article and in what order, they are…
