>>In post of March 18 Graham Clark said.
>>> Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology is published by
>>> Elsevier and has been around since 1980. It has the
>>> highest citation rate of any primary parasitology journal.
>James Mahaffy <mahaffy at dordt.edu> wrote:
>>Somehow dissemination of information is hindered. I am all for free
>>business, but wish it was a society publish a journal at under $130.
>>$2,000 for a journal is a bit too much.
I think the root of the problem, and this is for all academia, is that
we evaluate the worth of journals by such things as their citation rate, rather
than the utility or quality of articles being published. Consequently, there is
the perception that the best research in the field is not being published in
society journals. This is unfortunate. Parasitology Today, another Elsevier
publication, is an excellent journal for review articles, and short
presentations of timely research. However, it is my opinion that the primary
body of the research presented there should be published in Journal of
Parasit, Trop Med or Jour Protozo. I imagine authors avoid those publications
because they are looking to get more bang for the buck. Perhaps if tenure and
promotion commitees would give more attention to the overall quality of
research being conducted by their faculty, rather than which journals they
are publishing in, there would be more support for society publications.
