What does "we have no up-front costs to dissuade us " exactly mean?

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Context:

Yet barrier-based publishers survive because of another disconnect,this one between researchers and libraries. Researchers choose which journalsto support with their submissions, but it’s libraries that have to pay forsubscriptions to those journals. Because of the stupid way researchers areusually evaluated (and this is another whole issue), the intrinsic quality ofour work matters less than the brand name of the journal it’s published in. Sowe have strong selfish reasons for wanting to get our work into the “best”journals, even if it is at the cost of effective communication. And we have no up-front costs to dissuade us even if those journals are expensive ones. Wehave a completely dysfunctional journal market because the real purchaser neversees the bill.

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Type: Question • Score: 1 • Views: 1,278 • Replies: 9

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View best answer, chosen by oristarA

@oristarA,

Up front costs are costs you pay just to get started in a business or activity. If you want to open a restaurant, you need to buy equipment, rent a place, furnish it, etc. These are upfront costs. They are different than buying food, paying for electricity, paying workers since those costs are dependent on how your business is growing.

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@engineer,

Thank you!

What is the meaning of "because the real purchaser never sees the bill"?

3 Replies

@oristarA,

It means the person who consumes the product doesn't have to pay for it. Getting a "bill" means being asked for payment.

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@oristarA,

Quote:

What is the meaning of "because the real purchaser never sees the bill"?

So we have strong selfish reasons for wanting to get our work into the “best”journals, even if it is at the cost of effective communication. And we have no up-front costs to dissuade us even if those journals are expensive ones. We have a completely dysfunctional journal market because the real purchaser never sees the bill.

Engineer has given the literal meaning but here, I believe, the meaning is more a figurative one.

I believe that the author is saying that the articles written in these journals, are being compromised as to their honesty/integrity. For some reasons that aren't clear from the text, the author believes that writers are compromising the message in order to get published in the "best" journals.

The reading public of these journals are being misled; they are shown a result without being shown the costs incurred to get that result. The loss isn't a literal monetary meaning, but rather one of, I surmise, academic honesty.

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@JTT,

Thank you JTT.

Does "effective communication" there refer to "open-access"?

1 Reply

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Thank you JTT.

Does "effective communication" there refer to "open-access"?

No, it means to reach those who the writer most wants/needs to reach in order to be effective in advancing the science/art/opinion/whatever. The author is saying that writers submit to publications that are by reputation the "best" rather than the ones that their article is best suited for because of the screwed up rating system used by their employers which results in better career advancement if the wrong publications are used.

Communication is the transaction between speaker and listener, to place the article in a publication that is not read by those who the writer most needs/wants to have read is an act of decreasing the effectiveness of the communication.

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@JTT,

Quote:

I believe that the author is saying that the articles written in these journals, are being compromised as to their honesty/integrity. For some reasons that aren't clear from the text, the author believes that writers are compromising the message in order to get published in the "best" journals.

Wrong. You have completely failed to understand the passage.

0 Replies

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Thank you!

What is the meaning of "because the real purchaser never sees the bill"?

The "real purchaser" in this case refers to the one who buys into the ideas presented in the article. But this person does not pay the financial costs of the journal, the library does. The author is pointing out that the market transaction has been skewed, presumably believing that if the reader had to pay for the journals (or articles) that he/she read then the transaction would go better, for instance the price of the journals would come down.

The thrust of the authors complaint is that the screwed up market for the publication of ideas is extremely expensive and degrades the quality of the communication for no reason other than some companies have found a way to game the business to produce unreasonable profits. Free market capitalism theory demands that this unneeded and unproductive inefficiency be eliminated.

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@hawkeye10,

hawkeye10 wrote:

oristarA wrote:

Thank you JTT.

Does "effective communication" there refer to "open-access"?

No, it means to reach those who the writer most wants/needs to reach in order to be effective in advancing the science/art/opinion/whatever. The author is saying that writers submit to publications that are by reputation the "best" rather than the ones that their article is best suited for because of the screwed up rating system used by their employers which results in better career advancement if the wrong publications are used.

Communication is the transaction between speaker and listener, to place the article in a publication that is not read by those who the writer most needs/wants to have read is an act of decreasing the effectiveness of the communication.

Excellent!

Thank you, Hawkeye.

I wonder why could you be so sharp-eyed and penetrating like a hawk on this scientific question?

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What does "we have no up-front costs to dissuade us " exactly mean?

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