Researchers: do your damned job
August 6, 2014
I am just about out of patience with academic departments putting up endless idiot arguments about open access.
Bottom line: we pay you good money out of the public purse to do a highly desirable job where you get to work on what you love — jobs that have tens or dozens of candidates for every post. That job is: make new knowledge for the world. Not just for you and a few of your mates: for the world. If you’re not prepared to do that, then get the heck out of the job, and vacate a position for someone who will actually do what we pay them for.
Sheesh. I try to be understanding, I really do. But all this “Oh, oh, it’s not like it used to be in the old days” whining has worn me down. No, it’s not like it was in the old days, when you got paid to play, with nothing expected in return. Earn your damned keep, or get out of the road.
(And, yes, this is a toned down version of the comment I originally composed in my head.)
[Originally posted as a comment at The Guardian.]
Filed in craven administrators, open access, Shiny digital future, stinkin' authors
2 Responses to “Researchers: do your damned job”
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Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week 
August 7, 2014 at 8:38 am
More accurate perhaps: research MANAGERS pls do your business without killing the research activity.
Related, what do you think about We have met the enemy: part I, pusillanimous editors? Look like conflict of interest. Somebody can well be a (paid) editor at a ISI journal or member in a hiring committee which values publication in ISI journals, but not both, for example.
August 7, 2014 at 10:21 am
As I’ve said in another context, “I have plenty of ire to go around; publishers, funders, researchers can ALL have some.” In that list, I omitted managers (I blame the 140-character limit) but clearly they also play their part in propping up the iniquitous status quo.
I hadn’t seen Pusillanimous editors but needless to say I am very much in agreement. The failure of Elsevier-owned editorial boards to simply walk away is lamentable. All that’s necessary for evil to triumph, etc.