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> Are referees for second rate journals less likely to steal your article?
Of course. For several easily understandable reasons.
The first one is that there will likely be no referees. And if there are,
then it is likely that they are not members of the "organized stealing
crime" - as described by Ruelle, as the "big operators" are likely to be
assigned to major journals. Moreover it is very likely that the paper will
published, and rather soon, rather than rejected or kept for two years
First class journals have, likely, first class referees. Some of these
referees (from the class described by Ruelle as "unscrupulous") are
experts who will instantly notice potential or actual value in the paper
for their own, well funded, research projects.
I could list more reasons, but the above should suffice to just give some
idea about possibilities. All of the above comes from my own experiences
as an author.
Of course publishing in second rate journals has drawbacks too. For
instance chances are that what you publish will, after several years,
become "public domain", and nobody will care to quote the real author
of the idea. Instead, some "well known" scientist will quote the paper
(or not) and re-publish the idea in a major journal. And then the second
generation will quote only the major journal and the well known person,
rather than the original publication.
But even so, there is a reward, because giving something to the "public
domain" IS rewarding to the author.
ark
http://www.cassiopaea.org/quantum_future/
Received on Mon Dec 02 2002 - 03:41:03 GMT