Re. Can journals monopolize science?
u9a36 at seq1.keele.ac.uk
Tue Jun 1 04:16:47 EST 1993
> Onto another topic to get my blood pressure up, why is there still this
> emphasis on numbers of (poorly written) papers? I have worked on some papers 8
> years before submission. Why are we ruining the system by rushing to press
> with such stupid papers as ones that report the effect of a single base change
> in a binding site? It is technically possible now to report the effects of
> THOUSANDS of changes in a single paper, but folks take literally years to do
> the job, and they don't even do it right.
I couldn't agree more. I'm only an undergrad, tho' many of my freinds are in
research and they bitch constantly about the poor quality of papers in thier
One paper that is typical, I believe, of the problem is one I read last night,
having tried to get hold of it fro three months, on UDP-Glucuronosyl transferease
The conclusions of which can be summed up in one sentence, and in deed was:
"We found that If the protien was there the so was the activity"
Sure that could be im[portant and could have implications in further work
on developmental change but the authors didn't go any futher but just published a seven page paper on just that, even the technique they used was simple immunoelectrophoresis!
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