Science’s Pirate Queen

To me, Alexandra Elbakyan is kind of like a Martin Luther of science. That is, she enables the lay public to read and interpret science rather than awaiting the interpretation and approval of academics from high-status institutions. That may be a ‘sacrilege’ view here, given the audience of HN. And, in a way, I do feel somewhat nervous of people making decisions based on papers they read without understanding of the philosophy and practice of science. Yet, it’s unavoidable and…

Frankly, scientific publishers represent institutionalised theft of tax payer money: - Academics (most often publicly funded via grants and university salaries) do the work for free. - They are expected to learn to use LaTeX and to typeset their work for free. - They are expected to copy-edit the papers for free, or else pay a copy editor themselves with, you guessed it, public funds. - Volunteer Academics (on university time and therefore, again, public money) are expected to review…