1. Introduction
In contrast to other SCIRP journals, with their rather narrow professional orientations and fields of knowledge, the Voice of the Publisher covers all fields for a non-specialist and general audience. As the voice of the SCIRP publisher, this journal promotes the best publications from other SCIRP journals, explains highly specialized topics for a popular audience, and publishes reviews of the most interesting problems previously discussed in professional SCIRP journals. The journal contains book reviews, accounts of meetings and letters to SCIRP editors; it also contains letters to the editor of other publications where such letters are not published to protect unprofessional or corrupt editors.
From the beginning of the 21st century, and especially in recent years, more publishers and more journal titles have appeared than during the entire previous century. Despite the significant growth in the numbers of universities and scientists, a huge gap has appeared between the number of scientific reports produced that are suitable for publication and the capacity of publishers to publish them. The capacity for computerized and e-published information is many dozen times larger than the capacity of scientists to produce scientific research and their need to publish it. Modern methods of publication allow a 10-page paper to be published with a double review in five days. Approximately a year is required to produce results for original scientific projects that can be published. This is obvious from European or American standard requirements for PhD theses. These standards are that there should be three years of scientific engagement in research and a minimum of three papers published or in press for recognition of a PhD degree.
The overall quality of published scientific papers has fallen. The reasons for this poor quality are double publication and even plagiarism or fabrication. The non-serious publishers hunt or fish for manuscripts of very suspicious quality, or republish old papers or parts of books, to present as new papers. The issue was discussed by Brondz in “Analytical Methods in Quality Control of Scientific Publications Part III: Publishers’ Ethics and Editors’ Complicity (2014) International Journal of Analytical Mass Spectrometry and Chromatography, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 77-102”.
In the present paper, the reasons for the decline in the quality of publications will be discussed in the general section. The special section will discuss the influence of politics and politicians as employers of scientists on the expression of “politically correct” theories and predictions. This parallels previous descriptions of this problem by Brondz in a paper entitled “Analytical Methods in Quality Control of Scientific Publications Part IV: Fraud Ordered by the Pharmaceutical Industry” [1] , which discusses the role of the pharmaceutical industry in influencing public opinion through the use of fraudulent publications.
2. General Part: The Decline in the Quality of Publications (the Reasons)
The main issue discussed in this paper is the fall in quality of published papers, which has resulted from the appearance of new, inexperienced in teaching centers that lack a tradition of teaching. Moreover, the employment of scientists by politicians and industry to promote their political agendas and industrial needs using pseudo-scientific data has contributed significantly to this fall. For example, fifteen independent states appeared after the breakup of the Soviet Union, in these fifteen independent states many universities have been created from institutions, technical high schools and even professional schools, together with some private entities. Usually, these teaching centers are of low quality, as are the scientific publications of their graduates.
Even before this, a similar process began in Latin America, Asia and Africa at the end of the 1940s and early 1950s. With decolonization of Latin America, Asia and Africa by Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and other colonial powers, many territories became independent states. In some of these, cultural traditions and scientific institutions had been established long before independence. Among such countries are some former Latin American colonies. In these countries, from the beginning of colonization, the Catholic Church and colonial administrations established civil and military schools, and even Catholic universities and military colleges. These include the following countries.
・ Argentina: National University of Córdoba, 1613;
・ Bolivia: Royal and Pontificial Major University of St. Francis Xavier of Chuquisaca, 1624;
・ Brazil: Royal Academy of Artillery, Fortification and Design, 1792;
・ Chile: Universidad de Chile, 1842, Saint Thomas Aquinas University, 1580;
・ Cuba: Universidad de La Habana, 1728;
・ El Salvador: Universidad de El Salvador, 1841.
These teaching centers have long-standing traditions and usually produce scientists of a high standard. Scientists who graduate from these universities usually publish high-quality reports.
Besides, there are many other examples.
In Asia, there are nations with a long cultural history, such as India (which achieved independence in 1947), Israel (independence in 1948), the People’s Republic of China (founded in 1949), and some other countries that had a solid base for scientific institutions before gaining independence. The University of Delhi, known as Delhi University or DU, was established in 1922. At the time of its establishment, only three colleges existed in Delhi: St. Stephen’s College, founded in 1881; Hindu College, founded in 1899; and Ramjas College, founded in 1917. However, several other scientific centers in India should be mentioned: the University of Calcutta, founded in 1857; the University of Mumbai, established in 1857; and the University of Madras, established in 1857. The official dates of establishment of the Universities of Calcutta, Mumbai and Madras are very questionable. However, the scientific output of universities and publishers in India are of mixed quality. The issue was discussed by Brondz in “Analytical Methods in Quality Control of Scientific Publications Part III: Publishers’ Ethics and Editors’ Complicity (2014) International Journal of Analytical Mass Spectrometry and Chromatography, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 77-102”.
In Israel, well-known universities include the Technion―the Israel Institute of Technology, established in 1912, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, established in 1918. Both scientific centers are ranked highly among world universities and offer high-quality teaching and research.
In China, there are also some well-known universities, such as the University of Peking, which was previously known as Imperial Capital University, and the Imperial University of Peking, established in 1898. The Imperial Tientsin University was established three years earlier in 1895. In 1927, the first Chinese university to offer a doctoral degree program was Nanjing University (National Central University), established as Sanjiang Normal College in 1902. The University of Hong Kong was established in 1911. The Taihoku (Taipei) Imperial University, today known as the National Taiwan University, was established in 1928, and the National Taipei University of Technology was established in 1912 as a school of industrial instruction.
The oldest university in Southeast Asia is the University of Santo Tomas, founded on April 28, 1611, in the Philippines.
Less fortunate was Africa; with the exceptions are South Africa and Liberia. For example, South Africa’s Stellenbosch University, it was established as a teaching center in 1866, but received the status of a university on April 2, 1918; and the University of Cape Town, it was established as a teaching center in 1829, but received university status on April 2, 1918. In Liberia, the University of Liberia, 1951, was established as Liberia College in 1863 and it is one of the oldest teaching centers in Africa. The research and publications of graduates from these universities are usually of good quality.
There are also the following universities, with the records less impressive:
・ Algeria: The University of Algiers, 1909;
・ Kenya: The Egerton Farm School, 1939, which later received university status;
・ Ethiopia: The University of Addis Ababa, 1950;
・ Cameroon: The University of Yaoundé, 1962;
・ Ghana: The University of Ghana, 1948;
・ Libya: The University of Libya, 1956;
・ Morocco: The University of Rabat, 1957 and the University of Hassan II Casablanca AinChok, 1975;
・ Somalia: Somali National University, 1954;
・ Egypt: Cairo University and the American University in Cairo, established in 1919 as a private university.
Regrettably, some of representatives of African universities often have bad records, such as A. A. Elbashir from the Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Sciences, the University of Khartoum, Sudan, hajaae@yahoo.com, or Hassan Y. Aboul-Enein from the Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry of the National Research Center, Egypt, and other African “scientists”. These “scientists” are not ashamed to publish obvious fabrications. A detailed report about the “great achievements” of these “luminaries” is given in [1] . Some of Asian “scientists” have also actively participated in fraud. A similar report about the “great achievements” of these “luminaries” is also given in [1] regarding scientists from Malaysia. Perhaps in Asia, and especially in India, this phenomenon of cheating to boost national “pride” began significantly earlier than in Africa and had an uglier face. Publications [2] -[5] describe how the “prominent” Indian scientists Dongre, Karmuse, Nimbalkar, Singh and Kumar in 2005 stole the text of a paper from a manuscript submitted to the Asian Journal of Chemistry, and how India’s well-known Editor in Chief Agrawal of the Asian Journal of Chemistry helped them to do this [4] . Although to a lesser extent than India’s authors, authors in China have published papers with obvious mistakes; however, they were published mostly in Chinese domestic journals and was criticized in [3] . Maybe, there was no intention to mislead readers, but only a lack of fundamental knowledge.
Because of its desperate need to publish quality scientific reports, Nova Science Publishers Inc. of New York (US) has published as a new paper a chapter from a book without the authorization of the author, and even without notifying the author [4] . Some Indian publishers are fishing for manuscripts, as described in [4] the case of the Asian Journal of Chemistry’s Editor in Chief Agrawal, for the purpose of building national pride or maybe simply because of commercial interests. He probably transferred the text of manuscript to the paper [6] to the “prominent scientists” Dongre et al. Publications originating in Africa and Asia are of mixed quality.
3. Special Part: The Influence of Politics and Politicians as Employers of Scientists
Who of us from childhood is not familiar with famous stories written by Rudolf Erich Raspe about Baron Munchausen (German: Münchhausen)? The stories inspired filmmakers, poets, and possibly some scientists and many politicians. Baron Munchausen by himself was a prominent ambassador. Indeed, why should similar stories not to be used to achieve political, social or economic advantages? Of course, Baron Munchausen is not always the most helpful person. Some scientists are more useful, especially when their respect and foolishness are boosted by a Nobel Prize.
3.1. Is There Global Warming (Climate Change) or …?
Let us consider global warming, or the global greenhouse effect, which was proposed little more than several decades ago, and smoothly became “climate change”. The initial term “global warming” was later changed from “climate warming” or the “global greenhouse effect” to “climate change(s)”, because even with all the authority of an Indian Nobel Prize awarded climate guru, it was not possible to melt Tibetan glaciers faster than by natural rate. Climate change became an official part of global politics. Politicians and climate change gurus participated in global meetings with the single aim of curbing global industrial development through the extraction of money from the population and industry for the purpose of reducing CO2.
Without doubt, climatically induced changes can lead to many unpleasant consequences. An example of this was the initial spread of malaria from Africa about 6,000 years ago, which was initiated by the end of the Würm glaciation period: “The worldwide distribution of P. falciparum, the main human-infecting parasite, can be explained by recent climatic changes, with a gradual increase in the ambient temperatures in southern Europe and the Middle East about 6.000 years ago at the end of the Würm glaciatio [5] . The Würm ice age has been dated from about 115,000 to 10,000 years ago. Who should be blamed for this malarial disaster that killed many millions of men, women and children as a result of the end of the Würm glaciation? Baron Munchausen would tell us that of course there was an excess of global CO2 production by humans. However, at that time, no transport, industrial or even significant agricultural activity by humans was recorded. The best story would be told by Baron Munchausen if he were alive, but he is not. Let us consider a possible explanation that may be offered by climate change gurus.
About six thousand years ago, mankind discovered that cooked meat was tastier than the raw product. They (humans) started to use campfires, which caused an excess of global CO2 production, and this is the main culprit of the end of the Würm glaciation period and consequently of the malarial disaster. In other words, the main culprit that put an end to the Würm glaciations period is the smoke from campfires. There is an absence of logical explanation by the climate change gurus for changes in climate such as the Little Ice Age between 1300 and 1850 in Europe and North America.
In his book Little Ice Age, Brian M. Fagan attempted to explain the events using the most serious scientific accounts of the three possible causes: cyclical lows in solar radiation, heightened volcanic activity, or changes in ocean circulation. The main gases produced by volcanoes are sulfur oxides, which have a greenhouse effect that is about 50 times more powerful than that of CO2. A single moderate volcanic eruption produces a greater greenhouse effect than all the cars, planes and industry on Earth together. However, after the massive volcanic eruption of 1815 by Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) came the year 1816, which is known as the Year Without a Summer (also the Poverty Year, the Summer that Never Was, Year There Was No Summer, and Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death) [7] . Other factors also should be taken to account besides CO2.
3.2. Is Global Warming (Climatic Change) Possible as a Result of War?
Mankind went through two world wars: World War I and World War II. During wartime, enormous numbers of vehicles were in use, all of which (even horses) were sources of CO2. All explosives used in the wars were sources of CO2, sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides. During wartime, no one cares about clean technology and this is an additional source of atmospheric contamination. At the end of World War II, several nuclear bomb tests were conducted in addition to two bomb attacks on Japan’s cities that resulted in firestorms in the cities and a significant amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere in addition to the production of heat released into the atmosphere by the bomb explosions themselves. Firestorms were initiated several times during World War II by Nazi bombing of Stalingrad and by the American and British bombing of Dresden, Essen and other cities. After the end of World War II, hundreds of nuclear (atomic) and hydrogen (fusion) bomb tests were conducted in the atmosphere, underwater and underground. All these actions have produced a significant amount of heat worldwide, a hundred or maybe a thousand times greater than that produced by all other human transport, industrial and agricultural activities combined. Global warming was not discussed even once; on the contrary, in the 1970s and 1980s, the possibility of a global winter as a result of World War III was a popular topic of conversation.
3.3. Is Global Warming Possible as a Result of Electric Power Production or Wind and Biofuel Electric Power Plants Will Abolish Climatic Change?
In France alone there are more than 400 nuclear power plants that produce electricity and fuel for nuclear weapons, and in USA there are more than 1000 nuclear power plants.
Every kilowatt of electricity produced by a nuclear power plant generates one kilowatt of heat, which makes it necessary for equipment to be cooled, and this heat is then released into the environment. The nuclear power plants are not alone; even hydroelectric or thermal power plants need to release one kilowatt of heat from cooling equipment for every kilowatt of electric energy produced. Wind turbines are no exception. Even if all hydroelectric, thermal and nuclear power plants were replaced by wind turbines (wind electric power plants) or biofuel electric power plants, which are currently popular, this phenomenon (the cooling of working equipment) is impossible to eliminate. Every kilowatt of electricity generated by mankind will produce one equivalent kilowatt of heat. Neither Indian Nobel Prize awarded climate guru nor the smartest of politicians can cheat the laws of thermodynamics. Wind-powered electric power plants are contaminating the environment with warmth production at the same rate as other electric power plants. They contribute to global warming in the same way as other power plants.
4. Is the Ancient End of the World Becomes the Modern Global Warming?
In the Middle Ages, and even long after, the church scared mankind with tales of the end of the world. In ancient Assyria, Zoroastrianism proclaimed an ancient prediction about the end of the world. The Christian church has used stories about the end of world in one form or another to scare mankind. These stories are published in [8] . Many known and unknown prophets have predicted the end of the world. Many grotesque stories have been told, and many strange events have sparked these predictions of the end of the world. The most pronounced state of hysteria was over the predicted return of Christ on January 1, 1000 AD. During 999 AD, swarms of pilgrims headed east to Jerusalem to meet the Lord; crops were left unplanted, and this resulted in famine in 1000 AD. Criminals were set free from jails in 999 AD and this resulted in a rise in criminality in 1000 AD. Normal trade and handicraft activity diminished and this resulted in a loss of tax revenue to states and to the church. It can be considered that “pious wise men” created the end of the world. A similar state of hysteria even over the existence of CO2 or carbon existence alone dominates the minds of the poorly educated population and ignorant “scientists”. This CO2 hysteria propagated by some politicians may lead to greater disasters in the 21st century than the stupidity of some church leaders in 999-1000 AD.
5. What Can Be Expected in the Future?
Dr. Theodor Landscheidt from the Schroeter Institute for Research in Cycles of Solar Activity, in his well-re- searched presentation “New Little Ice Age Instead of Global Warming?” on the Web (http://www.schulphysik.de/klima/landscheidt/iceage.htm), makes a realistic prediction based on real scientific facts, unlike those of the climate change guru from India. According to Dr. Landscheidt, the earth’s climate depends on solar activity. Solar activity can be partially predicted using the Gleissberg cycle and the sun’s oscillatory motion around the center of mass of the solar system. The coolest period should be expected to approach in approximately 2030. Dr. Theodor Landscheidt stated: “I do not expect that the effects of man-made greenhouse gases will eliminate the sun’s predominance” [9] -[12] .
The Real State of the Climate: “New Little Ice Age or Global Warming”?
What is it about climate change? We are living in a solar system. At the core of the sun, temperature can reach more than 15 million degrees C. On the sun’s surface, the temperature can be higher than 6.000˚C. In space it can be near to absolute zero, which corresponds to −273.15˚C or −459.67˚ Fahrenheit. Therefore, we live in a temperature range of 6.500˚C in our lovely warm home―the solar system. The highest temperature ever recorded on earth was 136˚ Fahrenheit (+58˚C) in the Libyan Desert; the lowest natural temperature ever directly recorded at ground level on earth was −89.2˚C (−128.6˚F; 184.0˚K), which was at the former Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica, on July 21, 1983. This means that we live in an environment that is range between −89.2 °C and +58 °C in our lovely warm home on the earth, in a range of approximately 150° C. Live protein can function in a range from slightly above 0˚C to +60˚C. A comfortable environment for humans is from +10˚C to +30˚C.
The magnetic instabilities in the core of the sun cause fluctuations with periods of either 41,000 or 100,000 years. These fluctuations could provide an explanation of the ice ages.
The age of the earth is 4.54 billion years. Advanced forms of life have existed on earth for at least 3.55 billion years. The earliest fossils of modern humans are from the Middle Paleolithic, about 200,000 years ago. These include the Omo remains of Ethiopia and the Herto fossils, sometimes classified as Homo sapiens idaltu [13] . Fossils of archaic Homo sapiens from Skhul in Israel and southern Europe have been dated to approximately 90,000 years ago [14] . From these data it is possible to conclude that for the last 90,000 years, the global temperature has never been lower than ?20˚C for a significant period of time and never higher than +60˚C for even a month. In the past 90,000 years, we (as a Homo including climate change gurus) have lived in a stable climate and it is unimaginable that the situation will go out of control even if all the cars on earth emitted exhaust. Of course, car exhaust may become a problem for the population of some megapolises, but this has nothing to do with changes in global climate.
6. The Objectives of the Voice of the Publisher Journal
The objectives of the Voice of Publisher journal are:
1) To attract public attention to SCIRP professional journals, books and conferences;
2) To gain a strong reputation among other world journals;
3) To promote the best publications of other SCIRP journals;
4) To raise and discuss questions of wide public interest;
5) To curb plagiarism and fabrications in published information in all aspects of life;
6) To promote honest scientific discussion of global cooperation, global ecology, global warming, global meteorology, global overpopulation, global epidemics, human health, new education technologies, global threats from space, global political instability, global financial crises, exhaustion of global resources, global cultural shifts, fashion shifts, ethical shifts, publication ethics, future predictions, future predictions of end of the world, historical lessons, alternative sources of energy, space exploration, ocean exploration, tourism, migration, migrants and other topics;
7) To reveal fraud, falsification and plagiarism in publications, science, economics, religion and politics.
7. Conclusions
7.1. General Conclusion
The obligation of every scientist is to discuss questions of wide public interest honestly.
7.2. Special Conclusion
The polluted air in megacities is a problem, and may have quite a different solution from frightening the earth’s population with CO2, existence of carbon or Global Warming.