Academia's Chokehold on Scientists

A recent email reminded me of the fear that reigns in academia for out-of-the-box thinking.  It was from a professor at a prestigious university in the United States who had very positive comments about the Journal of Theoretics and in particular an editorial that I had written on smoking (Smoking Does Not Cause Lung Cancer According to WHO/CDC Data).  Being a statistician his comments about my statistical evaluation of smoking and cancer, were praise indeed.  But when I asked if I could publish his comments for others to see, he respectfully declined.

This is not the first time, that respected scientists have feared for their academic career/standing by being published in a journal that is outside the academic's control.  I have no loyalties or allegiances except to the advancement of Science.

When we first started Science (the AAAS publication) commented that we did not have the backing of an academic institution.  What they saw as a negative, I now more than ever see as a positive.  We have made the decision that an article should be deemed publishable based on its content and scientific credibility rather than the credentials of the author (i.e. which university they belong to).  The following is from our Information page about our review process:

"Unlike most journals were the theory has to be validated or invalidated by the article, the Journal of Theoretics must use a different process due to the nature of the subject matter.  Because a theory by definition is a hypothesis not yet proven, we must show that the premises,  logic, or use of language of the article submitted contains a significant error in order for a rejection to occur."

We are now into our third year and going strong.  Our issues for at least the next six months are already booked with accepted articles, and we reject more than we accept. Rather than being the thorn in academia's side, hopefully one day the Journal of Theoretics will become the standard for all of Science, where journal acceptance is based on the quality of the article and not who the author is.

Dr. James P. Siepmann, Editor-in-Chief

"If a scientist fears to pursue other than that which is accepted by academia, then scientific inquiry will cease to exist."

"Neither should religion become a science nor science become a religion."