What is the quality of vixra.org?

Vixra.org? Forgive my ignorance but never heard of that. Until someone mentioned the name in a thread here. I quickly checked a number of abstracts; no author’s title, no affiliated institution. Recipe for avoiding it.

Why is this high energy / nuclear physics? [Mentor's Note: Thread moved to General Discussion]
Anyway, wiki entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ViXra

Sorry, I happened to be reading HEP threads when I uploaded the OP. And I’m afraid my question was a bit rhetorical.

viXra is the place where crackpots go to if they can't even upload to arXiv.

From the Wiki-article

Physicist Gerard 't Hooft writes, "When a paper is published in viXra, it is usually a sign that it is not likely to contain acceptable results. It may, but the odds against that are considerable".

From https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/physics-forums-global-guidelines.414380/

References that appear only on viXra (http://www.vixra.org) are never allowed.

But where else are you going to publish if you don't have credentials, or a university affiliation, or a theory that makes sense?

Vanadium 50 said:

But where else are you going to publish if you don't have credentials, or a university affiliation, or a theory that makes sense?

I do not recall gaining credentials or university affiliation as part of the scientific method.

Frabjous said:

I do not recall gaining credentials or university affiliation as part of the scientific method.

You are taking sarcasm seriously?

phinds said:

You are taking sarcasm seriously?

2/3 of the time.

Vanadium 50 said:

But where else are you going to publish if you don't have credentials, or a university affiliation, or a theory that makes sense?

I think you can post it on several blockchains of several major cryptocurrencies. You then have a timestamp with your post, name and what not, uncensorable, "forever".

While I generally agree with everyone here about the poor quality of what is posted on ViXra, it does lead me to ask a general question about those scientists who have the university credentials, but do not have a formal university affiliation or employed in research labs outside of academia (e.g. Microsoft Research, Bell Labs).

For example, in my field (statistics), it is quite common and open for people with PhDs in the field to be working in various different industries (e.g. finance, pharma/biotech, healthcare, marketing, etc.) who do not strictly work in a research setting, but may also contribute to methodological research. This is especially the case in the pharma/biotech and health care settings, and the American Statistical Association even have peer-reviewed journal articles for those in that category (e.g. Journal of Biopharmaceutical Statistics).

I'm curious as to what the policies are with respect to ArXiv on contributions from such people?

@apostolosdt :

"What is the quality of vixra.org?"

"Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

(quote from Dante's Inferno)

StatGuy2000 said:

I'm curious as to what the policies are with respect to ArXiv on contributions from such people?

Do you mean, how can such folks post things on ArXiv?

https://info.arxiv.org/help/submit.html

DennisN said:

Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

Actually, Dante describes vixra in a little more detail later, in Canto IV:

Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous,
So that by fixing on its depths my sight
Nothing whatever I discerned therein.

StatGuy2000 said:

I'm curious as to what the policies are with respect to ArXiv on contributions from such people?

The bar is fairly low. You need to have published before, or be endorsed by someone who has published before. And not have posted nonsense at a level sufficient to get some human being's attention.

Much of the content of viXra can be quite entertaining, if you are entertained by such off the wall kinds of things. (n.b. Not all of it is entertaining. Some of it is just plain boring.) Herein, imho, lies its value.

One of my favorite vixra offerings was a paper that purported to reevaluate the center of mass of the solar system. (Spoiler Alert: it was centered on Earth).

If you are a fan of, say, Sir Patrick Moore's _Can You Speak Venusian_ you may find many happy hours perusing viXra. I highly recommend this activity be accompanied by a nice cocktail.

https://archive.org/details/patrick-moore-can-you-speak-venusian

BTW, Moore's chapter on the Zambian space program is unfortunately and perhaps deceptively brief. A little use of your favorite search engine will offer many delightful details of this thoroughly entertaining bit of history.

mfb said:

viXra is the place where crackpots go to if they can't even upload to arXiv.

Why is there any reason at all to think that arxiv endorsement is meritocratic? What's the upside for any endorser to engage with or take a risk on some crackpot (i.e., an outsider who lacks contacts with the right in-groups) who contacts them out of the blue?

eclars said:

Why is there any reason at all to think that arxiv endorsement is meritocratic? What's the upside for any endorser to engage with or take a risk on some crackpot (i.e., an outsider who lacks contacts with the right in-groups) who contacts them out of the blue?

Meritocracy is not the goal of endorsement. The goal is to preserve minimal technical standards so that scientists find arxiv a useful tool.

This original question was "What is the quality of vixra?" and this thread has drifted away from that.
The most recent drift has been removed, and the thread is now locked because it seems likely that no future contributions will be helpful.

Concerns about the forum rules for acceptable sources, our limited use of arXiv, and our outright ban on vixra belong in new threads in the feedback section - but starting one without first reviewing the many older discussions of this subject will probably just annoy the mentors.