I agree strongly with Roger and Nick. The point of doing research is to advance the field -- among other things by sharing one's results with others.
Most scientific publishers don't add much value to what they publish. The reviewing is done by unpaid reviewers. There are quite a few fully reviewed open publication channels. Quality is no worse there than in for-profit journals. Look for example at the PLoS journals <http://www.plos.org/>. Also, look at JASSS<http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/JASSS.html> . Compare the quality of those article with the quality of articles published in the Journal that started this thread: More mumbo-jumbo @ emergence. Furthermore, it is always OK to publish "pre-prints" of journal articles. These are author-formatted versions of published articles. Pre-prints allow the contents of articles to be made available without charge without giving away the formatting "added value" contributed by the publisher. -- Russ A On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 10:56 AM, Roger Critchlow <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 10:07 AM, glen e. p. ropella < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Thus spake Steve Smith circa 10/02/2009 07:40 AM: >> > But I understand Glen being careful about sending it out to a list that >> archives >> > such that the paper is effectively been placed in a public repository. >> > [...] >> > That said, I hope Glen (and others) *will* freely circulate their work >> to their >> > colleagues according to their own judgement about what supports their >> work (and >> > Science in general) vs what undermines it (breaking contracts or good >> faith >> > understandings?). >> >> Exactly. To be clear, I won't re-publish the article. But I'm happy to >> send a copy directly to any colleague who asks. >> >> > This came up, again, this week with a pre-undergraduate researcher, ie > unfunded and unaffiliated, who wanted articles on <subject>. I searched > arxiv.org, plos.org, and google scholar without finding much on <subject> > that wasn't encumbered by a king's ransom in use fees, however it turned out > that <researcher> at <university> had a web page of publications which > linked to pdfs of his publications, of the publications of all his students, > of his out of print book, dissertations, etc, et anything else that could > further the progress in his field of research. > > My recommendation was to google author names to find other online archives > of papers and follow the trail of pdfs. > > Life is short, the mean time to expiration of a good ideas even shorter > when starved for companionship, the mean number of readers of a scientific > paper who actually make something out of the experience is probably less > than 1, probably much less than 1. > > You can collaborate with the publishers, make your work artificially > scarce, so they can sell it again, and again, and again to those who can > pay. Or you can actively attempt to find a reader who will make something > of your work. > > The publisher doesn't care if anyone ever makes anything of your work, they > priced the book or the journal so their business expected to make a profit > the day of publication. That's why the books and journals are getting more > expensive so fast that libraries are spending so much time figuring out what > not to buy, what subscriptions to cancel, what departments can't defend > themselves. Which is making it all still more expensive for those who > continue to buy. And those online copies aren't priced at what the market > will bear, they're priced to make subscriptions look like a bargain. > > If you don't actively promote the availability of your work, of your > discipline, of your ideas online, then who will? Disciplines which make it > possible for a pre-undergraduate to find and to read and to learn about > their ideas online will recruit pre-undergraduates. Disciplines which abet > the publishers in their desire to collect rents in perpetuity on human > knowledge will fare differently. > > Which side are you on, boys? > > -- rec -- > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
