An Idea
It's a simple idea, and probably a good one. I'll probably set up a subsite for it on my personal website and then start the work on it.
Science journalism is pretty sloppy and will sometimes mention the actual study, but horribly misrepresent it, so I tend to look for primary sources whenever I see an article. I like reading things like abstracts, and when I can get my hands on them, primary literature for scientific discoveries. Google usually does a good enough job helping me find the abstracts, and sometimes the journals themselves have search bars that help me find the studies too.
Here's the problem. Not all journals are reputable, and it isn't always easy to tell if they are. And there are so many with similar sounding names. For instance (and these are random, and I haven't checked them yet) the Journal of Neuroscience may be a wonderful, peer-reviewed journal of the highest standards while Neuroscience Journal might be a meeting place for cranks. And what about Open Access? I can't afford $35-50 a pop for articles, and I can't always rely on my friends in academia to get the articles for me.
So, what I'm thinking about doing is making a simple searchable database. You type in the name of a journal and it returns results, telling you if the journal is peer-reviewed, reputable, and if it has open access. I'll start with a few, and add in more as I can. Eventually, I hope to have a database of most, if not all, journals that are available in some capacity online, available to search on a website, with a PayPal donate button so users have the option of giving me a little something for doing this long, mind-numbing task of making it easier to find out if a journal is worth it.
Science journalism is pretty sloppy and will sometimes mention the actual study, but horribly misrepresent it, so I tend to look for primary sources whenever I see an article. I like reading things like abstracts, and when I can get my hands on them, primary literature for scientific discoveries. Google usually does a good enough job helping me find the abstracts, and sometimes the journals themselves have search bars that help me find the studies too.
Here's the problem. Not all journals are reputable, and it isn't always easy to tell if they are. And there are so many with similar sounding names. For instance (and these are random, and I haven't checked them yet) the Journal of Neuroscience may be a wonderful, peer-reviewed journal of the highest standards while Neuroscience Journal might be a meeting place for cranks. And what about Open Access? I can't afford $35-50 a pop for articles, and I can't always rely on my friends in academia to get the articles for me.
So, what I'm thinking about doing is making a simple searchable database. You type in the name of a journal and it returns results, telling you if the journal is peer-reviewed, reputable, and if it has open access. I'll start with a few, and add in more as I can. Eventually, I hope to have a database of most, if not all, journals that are available in some capacity online, available to search on a website, with a PayPal donate button so users have the option of giving me a little something for doing this long, mind-numbing task of making it easier to find out if a journal is worth it.