The role of scholarly publishers as nexuses of expert evaluation and gatekeeping has been eroded over the past 20 years, to the point where evaluation has been dropped as a key characteristic, and gatekeeping denigrated. At the same time, society has become more fractured around scientific issues as opinions and information options atomize. This talk will explore the risks and benefits of the current scholarly information space, and recommend how to improve it.
The role of scholarly publishers as nexuses of expert evaluation and gatekeeping has been eroded over the past 20 years, to the point where evaluation has been dropped as a key characteristic, and gatekeeping denigrated. At the same time, society has become more fractured around scientific issues as opinions and information options atomize. This talk will explore the risks and benefits of the current scholarly information space, and recommend how to improve it.