Ask HN: The world of research is broken, how can we fix it? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: The world of research is broken, how can we fix it?

7 pointslettergram2 comments

I've been pondering this question for a while. I'm about to leave my university, and quite literally my largest concern is that I wont have access to the library (it's ~$600/year for a membership). I think its absolutely ridiculous that knowledge is paywalled, and I'll no longer have access to half of the research articles out there.

Further, I've noticed this at several conferences I have attended... but people often try to make their research more difficult to understand. This isn't always the case, but I would have to estimate at least 50% of the papers I've read attempt to do this in some way (and I've probably read 200+).

The real question, is why is this the case? Why has no one fixed this, and how can we?

Make it profitable to share your findings.

Currently if you discover or understand something new, there are no easy ways you can benefit from it. You can't build a product because you don't have the money. You can't sell it to someone because nobody is buying. So all you can do is charge money however you can.

And with information, offering "consulting" services is the most profitable approach. Make the docs as cryptic as possible then charge a fee for helping people understand it. If you want to fix this problem, create a way to make research profitable. Until then, people will always protect their best asset: information.

Ever read the language of obfuscation employed by professional patent writers(attorneys) (who compose patent applications for inventors)??

Same effect. The formation of a professional cadre to restrict access, coupled with high journal fees = the $600 you are asked to access journals.

Open journals are gaining year by year. Soon all government sponsored research must be published in an open journal. Now it is one year delayed.

This barrier is far larger for poor countries for whom $600 is the same as $12,000 for you.

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