Comunidad MIPE-DIPE

Existing norms for scientific communication are rooted in anachronistic practices of

bygone eras making them needlessly inefficient. We outline a path that moves away

from the existing model of scientific communication to improve the efficiency in meeting

the purpose of public science—knowledge accumulation. We call for six changes:

(a) full embrace of digital communication; (b) open access to all published research;

(c) disentangling publication from evaluation; (d) breaking the “one article, one

journal” model with a grading system for evaluation and diversified dissemination

outlets; (e) publishing peer review; and (f) allowing open, continuous peer review.We

address conceptual and practical barriers to change and provide examples showing

how the suggested practices are being used already. The critical barriers to change

are not technical or financial; they are social. Although scientists guard the status

quo, they also have the power to change it.