[Panzerlied]

To anyone familiar with funded research in the physical sciences, this problem was predictable decades ago.

The present day demands on an investigator to "Publish or Perish" are created not only from a desire to obtain job security via tenure, but a need to justify further research funding.

There was a time when patient, scholarly and well thought out experimental design resulted in the publishing of a handful of papers annually. While this body of work seldom involved results of a "breakthrough nature" in science, it was at least rigorously accurate and created a body of knowledge in a field that could be cited with confidence and often used by real geniuses in science to identify and support novel theories.

I contend that modern research in an academic setting no longer permits this patient scholarship and we have lost something as a result.

[Sola Veritas]

"I contend that modern research in an academic setting no longer permits this patient scholarship and we have lost something as a result."

I think you are right professor. Of course, new information is being accumulated at an every increasing speed. It is really difficult to stay on top of it. Seems that more scientists should stop trying to post in the "top" journals and settle for something less prestigous.