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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: June 27th, 2023

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  • Everybody remember Frontiers, the publisher that brought us the rat dck pck? Well guess what…

    I’ve officially resigned as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. It used to be a reputable journal, but became a case study in how forced automation destroys academic integrity. 👇

    When Frontiers started automating the editorial process, I stayed. I reasoned that as long as the automation could be turned off, human editors can still ensure rigorous, high-quality peer review. This now became impossible - the system has been entirely hijacked by algorithms. ‪

    Over the last month I saw that human editors are now stripped of control. I could no longer stop the system from auto-inviting “reviewers” with zero relevant expertise. Even worse - the AI began actively revoking the invitations I manually sent out to actual, qualified experts. ‪

    I emailed and met with the editorial office to ask for the AI assistant to be turned off. I was told this is not possible. Instead, I was treated to some vague promises of potential future improvements and a dose of gaslighting. ‪

    If human editors can’t control who reviews science, it’s no longer peer review — it’s a rubber-stamp machine designed for volume and profit, not quality. I have no intention of attaching my name to it. So I’m out.

    https://bsky.app/profile/michael-okun.bsky.social/post/3mnxkxte55s25