Author Topic: Independent Scholars Watering Hole  (Read 15354 times)

lutorm

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Re: Independent Scholars Watering Hole
« Reply #50 on: December 18, 2020, 11:44:11 AM »
I think I found a good alternative for my future paper submissions (if I choose to do any).

For many years I used a commercial software package for my work, at first when I worked for the company that published that software but also for other companies as a user. Since I don't have access to that software anymore and it's pretty expensive, I've started learning one of the open source alternatives for future work. The one that I'm learning is the oldest and most widely-used one and they have just started their own journal which is open access and has no publication charges. I think that could be a good way for me to publish my work - since it is from an open-source community, I feel that they will probably be more accepting of independent researchers.
I'm confused, are you talking about the software used for preparing the paper or for doing the research? Most journals I've come into contact with accept submissions in LaTeX, but it seems weird to me to have a paper dedicated to only publishing results obtained with a specific tool.

rab-bit

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Re: Independent Scholars Watering Hole
« Reply #51 on: December 18, 2020, 11:54:14 AM »
I think I found a good alternative for my future paper submissions (if I choose to do any).

For many years I used a commercial software package for my work, at first when I worked for the company that published that software but also for other companies as a user. Since I don't have access to that software anymore and it's pretty expensive, I've started learning one of the open source alternatives for future work. The one that I'm learning is the oldest and most widely-used one and they have just started their own journal which is open access and has no publication charges. I think that could be a good way for me to publish my work - since it is from an open-source community, I feel that they will probably be more accepting of independent researchers.
I'm confused, are you talking about the software used for preparing the paper or for doing the research? Most journals I've come into contact with accept submissions in LaTeX, but it seems weird to me to have a paper dedicated to only publishing results obtained with a specific tool.

Sorry for the confusion. I was talking about the software used to do the research. It's a type of engineering simulation software. The papers submitted to this journal could be devoted to extensions to the software, or physical results obtained using the software, or some combination of those. I'm sure that the papers could also contain analytical or experimental results as well, or comparisons/validations using other similar software, but I assume that any paper that you would submit there would have to use that specific software in some way to be relevant to their journal. Since it's a brand new journal, my guess is that there will be some flexibility in what they accept as it finds its identity.
« Last Edit: December 18, 2020, 12:04:43 PM by rab-bit »

lutorm

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Re: Independent Scholars Watering Hole
« Reply #52 on: December 18, 2020, 12:19:49 PM »
Sorry for the confusion. I was talking about the software used to do the research. It's a type of engineering simulation software. The papers submitted to this journal could be devoted to extensions to the software, or physical results obtained using the software, or some combination of those. I'm sure that the papers could also contain analytical or experimental results as well, or comparisons/validations using other similar software, but I assume that any paper that you would submit there would have to use that specific software in some way to be relevant to their journal. Since it's a brand new journal, my guess is that there will be some flexibility in what they accept as it finds its identity.
Ah, got it. It's not OpenFOAM, is it? ;-)

rab-bit

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Re: Independent Scholars Watering Hole
« Reply #53 on: December 18, 2020, 12:50:48 PM »
Sorry for the confusion. I was talking about the software used to do the research. It's a type of engineering simulation software. The papers submitted to this journal could be devoted to extensions to the software, or physical results obtained using the software, or some combination of those. I'm sure that the papers could also contain analytical or experimental results as well, or comparisons/validations using other similar software, but I assume that any paper that you would submit there would have to use that specific software in some way to be relevant to their journal. Since it's a brand new journal, my guess is that there will be some flexibility in what they accept as it finds its identity.
Ah, got it. It's not OpenFOAM, is it? ;-)

;-)

lutorm

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Re: Independent Scholars Watering Hole
« Reply #54 on: December 18, 2020, 01:11:30 PM »
;-)
Funny, I was just reading about different CFD packages the other day and was reminded that figuring out how to use OpenFOAM for some problems I've been interested in investigating was one of these things that "hopefully I'll have time for in FIRE"...

rab-bit

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Re: Independent Scholars Watering Hole
« Reply #55 on: December 18, 2020, 01:36:21 PM »
;-)
Funny, I was just reading about different CFD packages the other day and was reminded that figuring out how to use OpenFOAM for some problems I've been interested in investigating was one of these things that "hopefully I'll have time for in FIRE"...

Feel free to PM me if you do decide to learn it and I'd be happy to point you to some of the better learning resources that I've found.

lutorm

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Re: Independent Scholars Watering Hole
« Reply #56 on: December 18, 2020, 03:37:20 PM »
Feel free to PM me if you do decide to learn it and I'd be happy to point you to some of the better learning resources that I've found.
Cool, thanks. It's pretty far down on my to-do list but hopefully I'll get to it at some point.

2sk22

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Re: Independent Scholars Watering Hole
« Reply #57 on: December 19, 2020, 03:25:51 AM »
Cool, thanks. It's pretty far down on my to-do list but hopefully I'll get to it at some point.

Over the years I had built up a mile-long list of things I meant to look at "some day" and now that "some day" is here for me. Although computational fluid dynamics is not on that list :-)

My younger daughter however is interested in atmospheric sciences and may well wind up actually studying that.

sjlp

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Re: Independent Scholars Watering Hole
« Reply #58 on: February 13, 2021, 01:30:04 AM »
I was happy to find this thread. I am less focused on publishing in journals (though of course that is an important way to contribute to the knowledge base) and more focused on applied research/field work. Basically, in my areas of interest, there is an enormous amount to explore and learn, and there are people and organizations eager to participate in the research, but not much funding to do so.

So far I am doing this through consulting. I have a notional budget and a reason to do the work, but I can spend way more time on it than someone who is chasing grants. But I'm not sure if this is a good idea in the long term. It's hard to partner with people who are working in the traditional model, and I feel limited to small-scale projects.

On the question on legitimacy, though people ask me what university I'm affiliated with, they seem to accept that I am working independently. I've also been lucky that my graduate school gives alumni decent access to journals for life. (By the way, I never got a PhD, for many reasons including the desire to work on more immediate/applied research, the need to make a living, and no interest in teaching or academic politics.)

I would love to hear from other people who are taking a similar approach.

asauer

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Re: Independent Scholars Watering Hole
« Reply #59 on: February 14, 2021, 11:07:57 AM »
I'm very fortunate to live near several universities.  Several of these offer a "library patron" membership.  North Carolina State University's library patron membership is $60/ year.  I get access to all online journals/ books etc, plus I can attend all lectures/ events at the library for free or low cost.  It's awesome.

rab-bit

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Re: Independent Scholars Watering Hole
« Reply #60 on: March 01, 2021, 02:59:55 PM »
We live in an interesting ara where there seems to be quite a lot of ‘unaffiliated, uncredentialed’ individuals interfacing with traditional research scientists. 
A lot of them are life-long fishermen, hunters or guides that have a lifetime of direct observations but no education past college (and many of them not even that).  Broadly speaking they’ve been incorporated into various research groups because the scientists needed i) land/boat access, ii) their skill set (guide/captain) and/or iii) their clout with other stakeholders.

The last one is actually the most common IME - if you want to involve stakeholders (e.g. fishermen) the most surefire way of doing this is to get the alpha high-liner to be a part of your group.  Sometimes its just for a short project with minimal involvement, but I’ve witnessed quite a few evolve into long-term partnerships with NGOs, Universities etc. Interesting to watch some give the speeches starting with something like “well here I am among all you PhDs and I dropped out of college after my second year...”

I just submitted my first paper as an "independent scholar" to a peer-reviewed journal. On the actual paper I listed my affiliation as an "Independent Engineering Consultant", even though I have little intention of doing any real consulting work. Anyway, I'm curious to see how my listed affiliation plays with the editors and reviewers. I'll report back once I know more.

As a follow-up, my journal paper was accepted subject to some relatively minor revisions.

BicycleB

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Re: Independent Scholars Watering Hole
« Reply #61 on: March 01, 2021, 10:00:34 PM »
Congrats, @rab-bit

2sk22

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Re: Independent Scholars Watering Hole
« Reply #62 on: March 02, 2021, 02:42:09 AM »

As a follow-up, my journal paper was accepted subject to some relatively minor revisions.

Congratulations! Your situation is likely to become a lot more common in the future as academic institutions cut staff.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!