Periodic scientific publication: reflections on a complex process.

摘要

Imagine a performance of a classic ballet, say by Fokine. Its choreography is known. Its music has been established. Its message is known by cognoscenti. Movements have been rehearsed many times. There is a particular way to raise a leg or to walk on toe points or to jump across the stage. Minor deviations are frowned upon. Major ones are bitterly criticized. There is a way to enter, to bow, and to exit. Dancers are trained and retrained to perform according to standards. The latter flow smoothly (one hopes) from the high temples, say the Bolshoi, to secondary or tertiary centers. Some of the lesser centers may not even be acknowledged, but even they try to follow these directives.