The paradoxical survival of this apparently archaic form of literature has depended on its multiple functions, which are essential to the orderly functioning of a scholarly community. The first of these has not necessarily ever been the most important. But this is not the usual route for less epoch-making discoveries. Historically, the invisible college worked through international telephone calls, travel to other universities, and conference attendance, and therefore participation generally required money. It is important , however, to distinguish between academic debate and scholarly publishing.
Opinion is free but facts are sacred.
It is important that we maintain an unchangeable archive of verified research results. If I drive my car across a high bridge, I need to be confident that the engineers who designed the bridge had access to sources of thoroughly reliable and tested information about the properties of materials, the geology of the foundations, and so on. The paper was in fact a parody, but the editors did not notice this because the views it expressed coincided with their own. Sokal then admitted the deception in a paper in another journal, Lingua Franca . His purpose was to emphasise the importance, in the sciences at least, of scientifically demonstrated facts, which are not replaceable with culturally defined beliefs, even the one that one holds oneself.