86
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
I think a lot of the other answers touch on these things, but I thought I'd make it explicit:
Most claims by professionals to have solved the Big Questions are also wrong. Often as a professional, ...
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61
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
I'll share an analogy. In early 2023 I started ten-pin bowling regularly as a way to get some exercise. I worked out multiple times per week, practiced at home, watched lesson and competition videos, ...
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39
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
You underestimate the impact of an advisor. Even assuming that these wannabe physicists really have read tons of books and gone through hundreds of research papers (I suspect most of them have not), ...
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24
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
Peter Flom gave a good answer but I want to address some other aspects. Most of this answer will focus on pure math, but aspects will apply to other STEM fields. (It is also worth noting that a lot of ...
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21
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
Expanding on the excellent idea described in @DanielRCollins's answer, I would like to propose that the principle that the story in that answer illustrates so well has to do with the difference ...
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18
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
Academia is a constant feedback loop of rejection and criticism. Questions from your committee and advisor during PhD. Rejection or major revision requests for papers. Rejected grant proposals. Tough ...
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16
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
Ph.D. Engineer here, former professor. I have had several experiences with 'civilians' who thought they were making a significant contribution.
My experience may be different from Physics / Math. In ...
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12
votes
Why are there still page number restrictions for journal papres even though physical printing plays almost no role anymore?
These rules encourage conciseness.
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12
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
There are several reasons:
First, in general, these people don't know what they are doing; they haven't had the proper training; they haven't been fully exposed to the literature; they don't know the ...
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11
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
The difference seems to be the guidance they do receive. So the question now becomes why does it feel like "many people doing Phds also dont get that much guidance", while they still get so ...
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10
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
Here's a universal algorithm which, in my experience, allows me to solve every problem in mathematics.
Think about the problem for a long time and come up with a lot of relevant computations.
Make a ...
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9
votes
Pre-print split into 2 manuscripts
This is Shayn from Crossref's support team. I can only officially speak to preprint repositories that register DOIs through Crossref (e.g. bioRxiv, chemRxiv, Research Square, SSRN, etc.). If they'...
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8
votes
Accepted
I forgot to remove all authors' names from the appendix for a double-blind journal submission. What are the potential consequences?
Most editors will find this understandable. Your best bet is to contact the editor ASAP and explain the situation and give them a copy with the relevant redactions.
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7
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
To complement what the others said here is one more issue. Let's say they work hard and in their random movements they stumble on something interesting. Will it be new? The answer is probably no. ...
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7
votes
Accepted
Can I reuse a large part of my own previously published paper in a new paper?
You misunderstand the difference between self plagiarism and copyright infringement. First, if you cite the previous work then you aren't misattributing the ideas or breaking a chain of context, so it ...
- 374k
6
votes
Should I ask permission from my former PI after finishing my contract when I'm sole author of the paper?
From what you say, you already have his "permission" to publish as a sole author or otherwise exclude him. From what you say, you are ethically the sole author of the paper in its current ...
- 374k
6
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
The core answer to your question is simple: cutting-edge research in physics (or any other field) is very difficult. It is sooooo easy to make a simpler error and there is nothing like an undetected ...
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4
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
You have to learn to crawl before you learn to walk, and you have to learn to walk before you learn to run.
The people you speak of don't know how to crawl but try to be Usain Bolt. Their failure is a ...
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4
votes
Submitting 2 manuscripts explaining the same scientific fact but by two different methods
Is this allowed? In theory and practice, yes, there are many mechanisms which would allow you to do it.
Is it ethical? It depends on perception.
In my opinion, this qualifies as "salami slicing&...
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3
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Should I ask permission from my former PI after finishing my contract when I'm sole author of the paper?
In my opinion it is best to confirm, especially if all you have is a verbal agreement, I would get it on the record via email (if you already have that, then that is fine).
Further to that, you may ...
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3
votes
Why are there still page number restrictions for journal papres even though physical printing plays almost no role anymore?
At least four reasons:
Many journals do still publish print versions.
Longer papers can take longer for editors and referees to read them. (I think this is a mistake in some respects. I'm in pure ...
- 7,069
2
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
To summarise in two words all of the other answers in the shortest answer here ...
Dunning, Kruger
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2
votes
Why does independent research from people without formal academic qualifications generally turn out to be a complete waste of time?
As one who has both wasted time publishing poor research on the shoulders of giants and also wasted time getting nowhere with what I know in my mind and heart should stand on its merits and quality, I ...
- 11
2
votes
Submitting 2 manuscripts explaining the same scientific fact but by two different methods
There is no ethical concern as long as you have cross-cited the papers if necessary to avoid self plagiarism. That is probably not an issue given what you say, but I haven't seen the two papers.
...
- 374k
2
votes
Can I reuse a large part of my own previously published paper in a new paper?
Can I self-plagiarise a part of a previous paper?
No, you most certainly cannot self-plagiarize. But also, what you are proposing to do does not actually sound like self-plagiarism, so maybe the ...
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1
vote
Whether to upload a conference paper?
I would guess that it doesn't really matter unless you discuss things in the paper but anticipate filing a patent (especially in the US, where the rules have changed). Either uploading for conference ...
- 374k
1
vote
Why are there still page number restrictions for journal papres even though physical printing plays almost no role anymore?
I had similar discussions with some colleagues that are EIC/executive/associate editors at major ACS, RSC, and Wiley journals over the years. Their take was that even though we are not limited by ...
- 8,325
1
vote
Why are there still page number restrictions for journal papres even though physical printing plays almost no role anymore?
In my experience (in pure math), these page limits usually only exist (unless you have an absurdly long paper) when there are two or more sister journals, one publishing short papers and one ...
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