michael_nielsen

Do the publications in high-profile journals often come from relative unknowns?

I see your point. I think that relative unknowns are much more likely to get good feedback on their work through the formal process.

Will a brilliant paper/idea surface regardless of submission to journal? I think that's very likely...

But finding better ways to democratize feedback might help the not-quite-developed precursor idea to the brilliant idea...

AFAICT just asking for feedback will often get it. A friend with no (undergrad) degree started sending thoughtful emails to senior

people in his area of interest. Pretty soon he was getting feedback, invitations to visit, etc.

That's n=1 of course. But in general I think people underestimate how successful they can be with thoughtful requests for comment.

There's a related point, of course, which is that most people send really unthoughtful requests for comment. He wrote very careful emails