Problems with the present methods of publishing science: an academic view

Professor Azeem Majeed, Head of Department of Primary Care & Public Health, Imperial College LondonGP Principal, Clapham, London

Pressure to publish

1.Pressure to publish in the ‘top’ medical and scientific journals (as measured by journal impact factor)

2.Academic careers are heavily influenced by the results of the UK University Research Excellence Framework

3.Pressure to publish a high volume of papers, particularly for early career researchers

The publication process

1.Long delays before papers are accepted and published (particularly with smaller journals)

2.Arbitrary and inconsistent pre-publication peer review3.Lack of post-publication peer review4.Journals rely on unpaid volunteer peer reviewers, leading to

‘reviewer fatigue’.5.Failure of authors (and journals) to respond to critical

comments about papers

Journal problems

1.Proliferation of open access journals (many of dubious provenance)

2.Difficulty for some authors in meeting publication fees charged by open access journals

3.Many papers are not read or cited. Few are cited => 10 times4.For universities, high cost of journal subscriptions5.Access to non-open access journals for people without

institutional subscriptions

Measuring the impact of your article

1.How to measure the ‘impact’ of your article?2.Citation metrics: Thomson Reuters v. Google v. Altmetrics