Readers respond to an article on how too many low-quality papers and journals are being churned out
The dysfunctions of scientific publishing that your article so aptly captured derive from two forces (Quality of scientific papers questioned as academics ‘overwhelmed’ by the millions published, 13 July) – researchers are incentivised to publish as much as possible and publishers make more money if they publish more papers.
Artificial intelligence will not fix this. Churning out more papers faster has got us to this place. Given current incentives, AI will mean churning them out even faster. A paper written by AI, peer-reviewed by AI and read only by AI creates a self-reinforcing loop that holds no real value, erodes trust in science and voids scientific inquiry of meaning. Research is driven by our wonder at the world. That needs to be central to any reform of scientific publishing.
