[Moderator's Note: To new comers to the American Scientist Forum: This Forum is devoted to the discussion of freeing the peer-reviewed research literature from access-tolls, not to reforming peer review. Occasionally the question of the cost or value of peer review comes up, but before re-opening this topic, contributors are asked to consult the Archive for the threads below, so as not to merely repeat what has been said before, or to redirect the discussion in directions that are not pertinent to this Forum:
Note of Caution About "Reforming the System" http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/1169.html Peer Review Reform Hypothesis-Testing http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/0479.html ] > Are referees for second rate journals less likely to steal your article? Of course. For several easily understandable reasons. The first one is that there will likely be no referees. And if there are, then it is likely that they are not members of the "organized stealing crime" - as described by Ruelle, as the "big operators" are likely to be assigned to major journals. Moreover it is very likely that the paper will published, and rather soon, rather than rejected or kept for two years First class journals have, likely, first class referees. Some of these referees (from the class described by Ruelle as "unscrupulous") are experts who will instantly notice potential or actual value in the paper for their own, well funded, research projects. I could list more reasons, but the above should suffice to just give some idea about possibilities. All of the above comes from my own experiences as an author. Of course publishing in second rate journals has drawbacks too. For instance chances are that what you publish will, after several years, become "public domain", and nobody will care to quote the real author of the idea. Instead, some "well known" scientist will quote the paper (or not) and re-publish the idea in a major journal. And then the second generation will quote only the major journal and the well known person, rather than the original publication. But even so, there is a reward, because giving something to the "public domain" IS rewarding to the author. ark http://www.cassiopaea.org/quantum_future/