Open Access Science
Michael Tobis
Michael Tobis, editor-in-chief of Planet3.0 and site cofounder, has always been interested in the interface between science and public policy. He holds a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences where he developed a 3-D ocean model on a custom computing platform. He has been involved in sustainability conversations on the internet since 1992, has been a web software developer since 2000, and has been posting sustainability articles on the web since 2007.
Very nice clip, Michael. I would add that open access is not just a question of communication - it is a question of doing better science. Too many published papers are simply sloppy: poorly written, banal, uninteresting, rehashed stuff that managed nevertheless to pass the filter with just a bit of luck. We are in a difficult moment and we badly need to improve the quality of what we are doing: we can't afford any longer the kind of "excellent mediocrity" that the present system has fostered.
It is not obvious that "open access" will do the miracle - in some cases it can do worse, such as when it has generated a plethora of "pay to publish" low quality journals. But it is possible, I believe, to do good open access science, also coupling it with innovative refereeing methods. I am trying to do what I can with a new journal titled "Energy Systems and Policy". http://www.frontiersin.org/Energy_Systems_and_Policy/about
We have to see how the new system works by testing it but, of course, this is the way science works!
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