Re: The preprint is the postprint

From: David Goodman <dgoodman_at_PRINCETON.EDU>
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 13:00:01 -0400

I completely agree, that:

> Meanwhile, my only concern is to make sure no one gets the wrong idea
> that self-archiving = self-certification (SC). For that would be very
> bad for the prospects of freeing the current referee (AC) literature
> through self-archiving, at long last...
>
> These empirical hypotheses about peer review and its alternatives and
> improvements should be tested in a separate arena.
>

Therefore, let those who wish to implement systems for freely accessible self
archiving do so, regardless of what model for certification they wish to
follow. Almost all proposed systems are amenable to various models for this.
This is for the relevant segments of the academic community to decide, quite
separately from the distribution model.
This discussion should should be devoted to the other aspects: in particular,
when someone proposes a system or model that differs from the Ginsparg/Harnad
model in this respect or in any other respect, the discussion should center
not on why one system is better than the other, but on what is needed to make
the proposed systems succeed and what advice others can give.

Most of us expected open archiving to have become adopted more widely and more
rapidly than it has been. This might be not just an indicator of excessive
academic conservatism (not to mention publisher opposition), but of the need
for other types of systems as well.
We may be better off in the end with a single system, and it might well be the
one Stevan has been proposing, but how can we know this yet?


> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> Stevan Harnad harnad_at_cogsci.soton.ac.uk
> Professor of Cognitive Science harnad_at_princeton.edu
> Department of Electronics and phone: +44 23-80 592-582
> Computer Science fax: +44 23-80 592-865
> University of Southampton http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/
> Highfield, Southampton http://www.princeton.edu/~harnad/
> SO17 1BJ UNITED KINGDOM
>
> NOTE: A complete archive of the ongoing discussion of providing free
> access to the refereed journal literature online is available at the
> American Scientist September Forum (98 & 99 & 00):
>
> http://amsci-forum.amsci.org/archives/American-Scientist-Open-Access-Forum.html
>
> You may join the list at the site above.
>
> Discussion can be posted to:
>
> american-scientist-open-access-forum_at_amsci.org

--
David Goodman
Biology Librarian
and Co-chair, Electronic Journals Task force
Princeton University Library
Princeton, NJ 08544-0001
phone: 609-258-3235
fax: 609-258-2627
e-mail: dgoodman_at_princeton.edu
Received on Mon Jan 24 2000 - 19:17:43 GMT

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