Return to this week's Bulletin
07 December 2001
Citizen Science Research Journal?
by Shawn Carlson
Last week I mentioned that we here in the home office have been kicking around the idea of starting a world-class peer-reviewed research journal specifically for citizen scientists. Our thought was to create a quarterly printed publication, with a publishing arm on the Web. We expect that it will cost something like $150,000 a year to run and we'd need to get some foundation money to set the thing up and keep it going.
I want to personally thank everyone one who has taken time out to share their views about such a venture. You'll find their thoughtful comments below. I'd like to hear your views as well. To help guide the discussion let me make a few points for clarification.
- The journal would not be a drain on the membership. If we can't keep it going through foundation grants and subscription sales, then we should, I believe, allow the noble experiment to fail. We would not take money from other programs to support the journal.
- Also, there is, I'm quite sure, plenty of material to publish from the citizen scientist community to support a quarterly publication. And I'm sure that the quantity and quality of the contributions will only improve as the journal becomes established.
- We would only move forwards if we had a completely independent and well-paid staff to work on it. We can't have SAS's office folks take on additional tasks.
When I started SAS, I was hoping that it could be a conduit between citizen scientists and the professional journals. For a variety of reasons, that has not happened. It now seems clear to me that the only way for citizen scientists to find a voice in the academic literature is for us to create one of our own.
Right now, this is just at the idea stage. We're not ready to do it and, in fact, we couldn't be ready to do this for quite some time. But I'd like to know if you think that this might be a good idea. Why or why not? Please drop me a line and let me know what you think.
Shawn Carlson
Comments
Hi Shawn,
I am glad there are folks out there with resources who are willing to support such a worthy cause as SAS. I will send you guys another check this weekend. Will get on a regular schedule.
Regarding the Journal, I think that it is a wonderful idea. However, if it is done, it must be of very high quality. Anything less and we would be providing support to the folks who dismiss the idea of SAS. Is there a way for SAS to be a pre-filter for worthy papers and thus become a steping stone for some existing journal? Just an thought.
While reading one of your columns, you mentioned getting your lab set up again once you get into your new house. Perhaps you could describe your lab and how it is set up? This might even be an opening for others to describe their own personal labs.
Regards,
Tim Dolan...
Hi Tim,
Thanks for taking the time to write me and for the kind words and for the support. Great Ideas. I'll share them in the next E-Bulletin.
You're right about the Bulletin. It MUST be high quality. That's why it's going to cost about $150,000 a year to start. Stepping stone to some existing journal? Not sure. Journals rarely publish papers that have appeared somewhere else. I see us issuing a lot of press releases early on to highlight the articles and bring attention to our new journal. Then there won't be a need to publish elsewhere because ours will be a major research journal.
Take care and thanks again.
Shawn
Shawn:
I saw the idea about starting a "Citizen Scientist" research journal. At first glance, it sounds like a great idea, but as a researcher turned science journalist, I'm concerned that it would actually have an effect opposite what's intended. I envision two scenarios:
1) The journal really does get a world-class peer review group together and set itself up sustainably, obtaining ample advertiser revenue to keep it running at an affordable subscription rate. If the peer reviewers are really as rigorous as they would be for the top journals, then whatever the SAS publishes could just as easily have gone to a professional science journal. If the standards are lowered, then the journal will be regarded by professional scientists (and certainly by science journalists) as an intellectual backwater. Even if standards are strict, the journal will find itself constantly battling that perception.
2) The $150,000 in startup funds will materialize, get spent, and three or four issues will be printed. Advertisers will balk at paying high rates to advertise to people who build almost all of their own equipment, and shifting the costs to subscribers will either make subscription rates prohibitive or mean that the journal has to have exceedingly low production quality in order to make ends meet. There will be pleas to the already beleaguered membership of the SAS to save the journal, and perhaps some sugar daddies will once again step forward, but spending money before it's been obtained is not a long-term survival strategy for either a journal or a nonprofit organization.
Having spent a few years observing the economics of research journal publication firsthand, and having watched SAS develop almost from its inception, I give scenario 2 about a 95% risk of occurring. The SASsy Flea was a huge resource drain in the pre-MacArthur days of SAS, and this project risks a similar endpoint on a much more public stage.
There's also a major unintended consequence lurking in the wings: by sending amateur research to its own publication ghetto, the SAS would be tacitly endorsing the attitude that this research can't cut it in "real" journals. This perception would exist no matter how rigorous your peer review process is (see scenario 1), and would seriously undercut the rest of the SAS mission.
Sorry to be so negative about the idea, but I think it's a very bad strategy at this point. The rest of what SAS is doing is far too important to risk on a venture riddled with so many pitfalls. Amateurs who want to talk about work in progress can easily do so on the SAS Web site, and when they're ready to publish the organization has ample expertise on tap to help those papers get into established journals.
Alan W. Dove, Ph.D.
Shawn,
I guess I am concerened that there are not yet enough quality activities. I may be wrong, however there is a big risk of having a journal and then not having enough quality material to support it.
I am sure that you understand these concerns and do not need me to enumerate the risks!
Regards,
Tim...
Shawn,
I was writing to respond to your inquiry "should SAS start a reasearch journal"? I think that this is a great idea. When I first joined SAS one of my goals was to publish findings from research projects, or at least have a place to publish such findings. If SAS had its own journal for the publication of the works of its citizen scientists, then it might be possible for those findings to make their way into some prestigious scientific journals. This would really be great, especially if those findings involved tequniques that would better enable all scientists to investigate current research. It would be beneficial to everyone involved, and it would demonstrate the benefits of the individual who wishes to pursue science to investigate nature. Even though many scientists do science because it is fun, a journal to publish experimental findings would be in line with the spirit of science and that is to share ones findings, the free exchange o! f ideas, and the pursuit of knowledge. For all these reasons and more I hope to see SAS get something like this off the ground. I have only become a member in the past year, but since that time I have seen many improvements. I would love to see the research efforts of the individuals involved in SAS to be able to compete with institutional research. If nothing else I feel a SAS journal could prove our value as scientists and may contribute to the survival of SAS as a whole. Keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Kevin White
Hi Shawn,
In regards to the SAS Research Journal: I've proposed to you in the past that my company can head up the electronic publishing arm of the journal (I still have the "toy" web pages I made well over a year ago at http://www.dynamicpatterns.com/sas/), and I'm still interested in developing it further. Once we get a local chapter setup here in Ithaca, then I'm sure the chapter can help out as well.
Please let me know more about what you are thinking and we can start brainstorming on how we can put something together.
Best regards,
Matthew Dearing
Thanks Matthew. I haven't forgotten your kind offer. It may take a little while though before we'll be ready to take you up on it. I'll share it with the membership and hopefully we ll be able to get some brainstorming going.
Good luck with the local chapter in Ithaca. I've sent your request for members to Nancy. Please let me know if you've gotten the list yet and if there is anything else you need from the National office.
Take care
Shawn Carlson
