The cost of scientific excellence – could it be expensive and out of reach?

Gajović, Srećko; Pochet, Roland

doi:10.3325/cmj.2016.57.413

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…All researchers are proud to belong to a societal group that generates and tests ideas by experiments to create new evidence and find solutions of global importance. This collective contribution of science to humanity strengthens the position of researchers in the society and justifies publicly funded research studies across the world [3]. However, a question arises regarding the role of (biomedical) researchers who are involved in routine works and are far from "rocket science".…”

Section: Research Methodology Perspective Prospmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomedical Researchers Confronting the Covid-19 Pandemic

Gajović

2021

CAJMHE

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The COVID-19 pandemic represents a global challenge to be confronted by the biomedical community. This article aimed to explore how knowledgeable and competent researchers may contribute to fighting the pandemic, and to discuss the ethics and impact of this endeavor. Many medical researchers and in particular clinical practitioners are engaged in collecting new evidence and creating new knowledge by undertaking pandemic-related research. This research is frequently unplanned, and subsequently numerous obstacles to starting new but necessary studies must be overcome. To contribute research evidence in hard times represents a highly ethical move. Moreover, these new studies need ethical approvals, financial resources, and institutional frameworks. Another pandemic-related challenge is how to generate expert opinions during the period when solid evidence is missing. Unlike research studies providing necessary scientific evidence, expert opinions do not need ethical approvals or disclosures of competing interests. The apparent contrast of evidence-based versus opinion-based decision-making during the pandemic reconfirms that quality research studies have no alternatives at all times.

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Section: Research Methodology Perspective Prospmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomedical Researchers Confronting the Covid-19 Pandemic

Gajović

2021

CAJMHE

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“…As science needs intellect to thrive, the analytical tools used to solve research questions may as well be used to understand the societal positioning of scientific activities. Researchers may be bewildered by the neglect of science as a source of vital knowledge for the society, but recently, it has been argued that these unfavorable conditions can also be a source of a specific aspect of the scientific excellence ( 1 ). The values of national grants can be easily recalculated into the number of publishing fees charged by gold open access journals ( 2 ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Resisting the small cake phenomenon – sharing resources and knowledge makes you rich

Gajović

2017

Croat Med J

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Independent, Publicly Funded Journals Adhering to Platinum Open Access Are the Future of Responsible Scholarly Publishing

Gajović

2020

J Korean Med Sci

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Technical advances in digital publishing brought substantial changes to how we now deal with the essential element in producing new knowledge, namely, scholarly journals. Previously, paper-based journal issues were stored in libraries to be accessed by researchers. The printed issues could be borrowed, copies made, or reprints sent by colleagues. Every researcher used an impressive space for their own collection of selected publications to be on hand when needed, in particular during the process of new manuscript preparation. All of these practices became obsolete as the off-line paper version was transformed into a virtual online-ready data file. This transformation also created the impression that having a non-touchable manuscript equivalent would incur no costs related to this type of publication. The dream that knowledge would now be available to all was conceptualized as open access and it was a logical consequence of free flow and replicability of digital files. The end of scholarly publishing as a sustainable business was predicted, which was far from the truth. 1,2 The business model of scholarly publishing in the open access circumstance of digital publishing was established soon after, and it now represents a viable, profitable and rather lucrative way of economic activity. Digital publishing is indeed connected with the investment in proper presentation and handling of digital files. Moreover, scholarly publishing involves a substantial amount of highly valuable professional work to be provided by experts. All of this is to be translated to a realistic cost of scholarly publication. To sustain the notion of open access, where end users would access a digital publication for free, there is a clear need to find resources in order to cover incurrent costs, such as the so-called article processing costs (APCs). The covering of APCs is necessary for both the profit and non-profit model of open access, although only those for-profit would add a profit margin to the costs. For simplicity of billing procedures, the invoice for APCs would be issued to authors (referred as gold open access), or the total publishers' cost could be covered either by the scholarly association or by public funding (resulting in platinum open access without fees to be paid during the publication process). 3,4 The above explanation is a well-known story repeated here with the purpose of showing that there was a logical sequence of events that has led us to the current situation in publishing.

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The cost of scientific excellence – could it be expensive and out of reach?

Cited by 3 publications

References 2 publications

Biomedical Researchers Confronting the Covid-19 Pandemic

Biomedical Researchers Confronting the Covid-19 Pandemic

Resisting the small cake phenomenon – sharing resources and knowledge makes you rich

Independent, Publicly Funded Journals Adhering to Platinum Open Access Are the Future of Responsible Scholarly Publishing

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