Papers

[Proteus]

How do I best publish papers that contain new, and often hypothetical material? Most science magazines reject new material.

[ajb]

I can only really speak about mathematics and physics.

 

You maybe able, provided it is up to standard place an article on the arXiv. However, as a new user you will need to be endorsed. That is, you will need to find someone with the power to say that your work is what we want on the arXiv. Find a paper similar to yours and find out if the author(s) can endorse you.

 

Also, you could try to publish in a reputable journal. Find the journal that covers the area you have worked on and follow their instructions. If you cannot find a endorser for the arXiv then I would question if the work will get published. Of course, not everything on the arXiv gets published and not everything that gets published appears first on the arXiv.

 

If you consider yourself a quack (or have annoyed everyone at Cornell university computer science department ) you can send an article to the very open viXra. But I would be very wary of doing so. There are some good articles on there, but most are very poor.

 

Good luck.

[Proteus]

A paper similar to mine… hm, I tried a few search terms on Google, but then I realized that it is very unlikely that I'll find a paper that it similar. My papers are rather unorthodox. They, are, after all, speculative, but in a way that contradicts many mainstream science. It's not that it uses a lot of speculation, mind you: but the little speculation it uses is rather heretical.

 

Another problem is that some ideas in my papers, while original, are often very simple, making it difficult to make the paper of a length that is considered respectable. Since it contradicts mainstream science, I have little mainstream science to build on — only deductive method. Moreover, they often concern things of which little is known yet, anyhow, and the mainstream hypotheses they contradict have an equal lack of arguments because of this.

 

I think I'll just consider myself a quack. I do not see how viXra would harm the reputation of my hypotheses.

[the tree]

What area of science is this in? I don't think there's really a minimum length for academic papers although I'm not sure how much can really be said on less than say, one page.

 

Honestly viXra is kind of useless and if you're considering that you may as well just use Knol, or just submit a letter rather than an article.

[ajb]

What area of science is this in? I don't think there's really a minimum length for academic papers although I'm not sure how much can really be said on less than say, one page.

 

There is a Russian mathematics journal that gives you three pages. It is designed to act as a summary and point people towards your "fuller" papers.

[CharonY]

Letters usually are very short. Depending on journal I have seen as little as one page. Usually length is not the real criterion but rather if one can substantiate ones claims.

[Proteus]

Are there any actual magazines that publish new material? The ones I've tried all explicitly stated that new material would be rejected.

[the tree]

Again, with what area is this in? That sounds, odd.

There's little point publishing anything that doesn't contain anything new - not just in an academic context but it any situation.

[Proteus]

With "new material," I meant new theories or hypotheses. Apparently, to most magazines the theories or hypotheses must already have been propounded by others, and they merely present these in a more accessible form to the public.

 

Actually, I have many essays I would like to publish, covering subjects ranging from psychology to physics and geology to biology.

[the tree]

Apparently, to most magazines the theories or hypotheses must already have been propounded by others, and they merely present these in a more accessible form to the public.

Oh I see, we're talking at cross purposes here. You don't want to be publishing wild speculation in a magazine aimed at the general public.

 

I would go back to ajb's original post, attempt to get something on arXiv. Through the course of your research you will certainly see references to reputable journals, if for instance you find yourself citing a few articles from journals owned by the American Physical Society then your own article may be appropriate for Physical Review Letters.