The value of journals | Nature Neuroscience
peter.suber's bookmarks 2023-07-09
Summary:
"While we recognize the importance of open science and encourage deposition of submitted manuscripts on preprint servers, we feel this initial editorial filter serves a complementary function. Preprint servers enable speedy and frictionless communication of all types of scientific findings, a bit like listing an item on the auction site eBay. Browsing content on preprint servers is a bit like shopping on eBay, too. With such a wide array of papers, a scientist is bound to find some that are of interest. But, in the absence of an editorial filter, one may have to spend time wading through irrelevant or lower quality offerings.
Such an ‘unfiltered’ approach also omits the value added by the peer review process. As we have learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, rapid and open scientific communication is valuable, but peer review is also critical to ensure the quality of the scientific record...."