Depositing hope for the future
The rise of ChemRxiv might mean that chemists can tackle thornier cultural problems
A lot of the articles in this issue address the thorny problems in academic research culture. The interlocking tangle of an ultracompetitive environment, the inappropriate use of metrics, the pressure to produce eye-catching results and get them published, an already less-than-diverse workforce and so on all add up to a problem that can’t be fixed by an individual, or even individual institutions.
Whatever the reasons behind its increasing acceptance, it’s good to see more papers appearing on ChemRxiv for the world to read – and even better to see that people’s attitudes can change. If that’s the case, there’s hope for the big intractable problems too.