> Keep in mind a high-profile journal like Science is extremely competitive and receives many paper submissions. They have to filter what they choose to publish based on some reason.
This is quite true, but I'd be wary of what you justify based on this fact alone. Discounting all of the interpersonal politics that goes into paper acceptance, the overall editorial policy of "high-profile" journals like this has a considerable effect on the scientific climate.
It would be unfairly cynical (IMHO) to say that the editorial policies will be geared toward whatever the publisher expects to be the most profitable (even in the long term), but on the other hand it would be naïve to expect that they're even trying to do their best for the expansion of human knowledge and the betterment of society.
What I'm getting at is that choosing what to include in Science et al. is a subtle but far-reaching tool, and maybe one better put in the hands of someone at least somewhat impartial, even if it's just some simple popularity contest counting votes on arXiv or similar.
This is quite true, but I'd be wary of what you justify based on this fact alone. Discounting all of the interpersonal politics that goes into paper acceptance, the overall editorial policy of "high-profile" journals like this has a considerable effect on the scientific climate.
It would be unfairly cynical (IMHO) to say that the editorial policies will be geared toward whatever the publisher expects to be the most profitable (even in the long term), but on the other hand it would be naïve to expect that they're even trying to do their best for the expansion of human knowledge and the betterment of society.
What I'm getting at is that choosing what to include in Science et al. is a subtle but far-reaching tool, and maybe one better put in the hands of someone at least somewhat impartial, even if it's just some simple popularity contest counting votes on arXiv or similar.