Academia is slow, conservative and over-cautious

Being constantly online and at the same time out of academia skewed my perspective, and I kinda expected that most of my old profs would not be so hot about publishing in online open-sorce journals (and even thinking that Science is still a place to go, oy vey!), but this is quite disheartening, especially for the medical (that woudl include biology, I presume) field:

Scientists Are Wary Of Online Journals

Scientists and researchers appreciate the speed by which online journals can distribute new findings to their colleagues and the academic world, but they fear non-traditional publication can affect their chances of promotion and tenure, according to new study released by professors at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Munich.

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of all the reasons they could give, that one is the rankest bunch of chickenshit. It amounts to saying "yeah my title is professor of biology but if you think i am going to put the advancement of the science I profess ahead of my status and perch in the hierarchy, you have severe idealism"

They might as well have taken MBA's as PhD's.

PLOS does have a stream of papers coming in but now I have to guess whether its total content reflects research of of securely tenured faculty or of mavericks who don't care what the rumors are that get back to the dept. chair.

Spose I oughta RTFA and see what reasons and impacts are reported for this yellow streak.

"Yellow streak" == "want food, rent and clothes for the kids". Unless you're tenured you have no security whatsoever, and your publication record determines whether you still have a lab or office to go to next year.