I'm a retired physicist. I used to work in the industry. I have now time for theoretical research and have something to publish. Is it possible to publish in peer-review journal without affiliation?
Oh, come now. If you're a retired physicist surely you should know all about how to publish?
Now, it's an unfortunate fact that 95% of all physics papers submitted by unaffiliated researchers is garden-variety crackpottery. Giving you the benefit of doubt and for now assuming that you're not a crackpot, though, there's no problem with just submitting your paper to the appropriate journal and keeping the "affiliation" field blank.
Oh, and remember that the editors will be alert for any signs that you're a crackpot, so write your abstract and cover letter in a way that emphasises the genuine and original contributions which your paper makes and doesn't exaggerate its importance.
This post really sets off my bogometer. Anyone who is really a retired physicist would not need to ask this question, much less ask it from a newly created account on HN. That this post is getting so many upvotes is worrisome.
I think the answer's yes, but it can sometimes be tricky. You might try submitting to a relevant conference first, before going for a journal. It builds credibility for your ideas, and may get you good feedback on how to discuss your work in a way that authenticates with other researchers in the field (uses the right terminology in the right way, positions itself relative to existing work and appropriately cites that work, etc.). The biggest hurdle is usually finding which sub-community of researchers is interested in the kinds of problems you're studying, and then making sure your paper's written in a way such that they clearly know you're talking to them, in a way that resonates with them. You might also meet relevant collaborators at conferences. The main downside is that it costs some money to register for / travel to them.
When choosing a journal, if you're worried about it, you might want to look for one that explicitly says it uses double-blind review.
Disclaimer: I'm a researcher, but my area isn't physics, so ymmv.
I'm not aware of any journals in physics that do double-blind review.
However your comment did remind me: the American Physical Society has its two big meetings every March and April. If you are a member then they have to let you present at it. There's always a few "unaffiliated researchers" giving posters. (And yes, they're usually crackpots.)
I've been published (in physics) while outside of academia. It was with a research team I'd previously worked with while in college, which says to me that it probably helps if you can find some co-authors that are still publishing, if for no other reason than to show you the ropes of the process.
Every professor I've had who is a theoretical physicist has posted their papers at http://arxiv.org/. It's not peer-reviewed but as far as I know pretty much everybody reads it.
The impact of a non-peer-reviewed paper which only appears on arxiv is generally pretty low. A bunch of people might read it on the day that it comes out, but it won't show up in all the databases in years to come, and might very easily be forgotten. If you've done real and credible work then it's much better to get it published in a proper journal.
(On the other hand if you've done work that wouldn't pass peer review then please don't clog up the arXiv with it)
I'm (temporarily) leaving theoretical physics, too. I'd like to continue on, but without the affiliation. Can I pick your brain about what's it like doing research outside of academia? rodguze@gmail.com.
I would think that the main problem would be lack of access to libraries and hence journals.
Still, I would assume you should have friends and colleagues still within academia who could probably sort you out with library access in one way or another.
Some public university libraries can even be free, e.g. the University of California system allows free in-library use of materials and computers to visitors (you just walk in, and if you want to use electronic resources, login as guest).
Yes and no. At Berkeley, frinstance, you won't be able to get into the main part of the main library without a university ID card of one form or another. (And the other parts of the main library often have a few homeless people sleeping in armchairs.) Still, you can always get into the Physics library and that'll have all the journals you need.
If you're a genuine citizen scientist (as opposed to a crackpot) there are always ways around it though. Talk to the librarians, they might be able to hook you up with a card in one way or another.
Interesting. UC Santa Cruz has no card checking at all, and pretty explicitly allows the general public to visit. You can even use the WiFi without any sort of account. It's a little out of the way, though.
or, if you do not want to mention retired or former, nor start your own company, just provide your home address and indicate your preferred/non-preferred reviewers
I wonder, if you are retired, why do you need journals? I could be completely mistaken, but I thought the main point of journals is to rack up your "publications count" so that you can keep your job.
Somehow I doubt that people will read your work just because it appears in a journal. I'd expect you'd still have to go around and advertise it (ie present on conferences, talk to people directly and so on)?
In many ways Journals are the beating heart of scientific research in that they both spawn new ideas and keep people from redoing the same experiment thousands of times.
Journals are used by researchers looking into similar problems. So if you say find you can get a 1mm standing wave in water with sound waves and an odd contraption people looking into that area 10 years from now will probably run across your research and either improve it or look into some other area.
Most working scientists I know at least browse the table of content of each new issue of their favourite journals, and read at least the abstract of anything that sounds interesting. So if you have something genuinely interesting to say and get it into a well read journal there is no reason to assume people won't read it. Also journals are indexed and archived in ways that personal web pages aren't, meaning if you get published, it will be a lot easier for scientists to find your article, both now and years into the future.
In which area of interest? As for journal access, i suggest using public computers in a university library. Not tremendously practical but they're always subscribed.
Now, it's an unfortunate fact that 95% of all physics papers submitted by unaffiliated researchers is garden-variety crackpottery. Giving you the benefit of doubt and for now assuming that you're not a crackpot, though, there's no problem with just submitting your paper to the appropriate journal and keeping the "affiliation" field blank.
Oh, and remember that the editors will be alert for any signs that you're a crackpot, so write your abstract and cover letter in a way that emphasises the genuine and original contributions which your paper makes and doesn't exaggerate its importance.