Hi, I can't agree more with you :)
On Tue, Jul 24, 2018 at 11:53 AM, Suchith Anand < suchith.an...@nottingham.ac.uk> wrote: > Dear colleagues, > > > > I have prepared a draft letter with my ideas/suggestions .I am just a > volunteer and I feel sad that that I have to raise this issue through an > open letter. But if I remain silent on this , I will be indirectly > supporting the degrading of independent peer review frameworks for > Scholarly publications of Scientific Associations. > > > It is the fundamental duty of all Officers of Scientific > Associations/Organisations to always take steps to guard and protect > independent peer review frameworks for Scholarly publications of > Scientific Associations. I am hopeful and confident that that they all will > do this for the future. > > > I am not a native English speaker, so please help refine this letter > correctly. I want us to look at the future not focus on mistakes made in > past . Some mistakes have been made and I understand that this is > corrected. We are all human , so we all make mistakes . So let us not > focus on past mistakes but look at ideas on how we can strengthen the > independent peer review frameworks for Scholarly publications of > Scientific Associations in the future. > > > The International Cartographic Association (ICA) is my organisation for > which I have volunteered for the last 15 years and continuing . I have > great respect for everyone in this great global community . The SDG book is > a community effort (not any individual’s book project) . I have requested > from the start (as soon as I came to know) for openness and transparency in > decision making for selecting the publisher. esp. as this book is on UN SDG > . I understand that ICA has now corrected the mistake . Everyone makes > mistakes and it takes courage to acknowledge and correct the mistakes > .Compassion and forgiveness are important values . I am very grateful > that ICA has listened to my concerns and rectified this . So I don’t have > any issues with ICA or any colleagues in ICA. We might have difference in > opinions on some issues and having free and open discussions is in my > humble opinion the best way to learn each others perspectives and find best > solutions to move forward. > > > > Please send any updates/modifications needed to the draft by 30th July > 2018. I am on family holidays ( with no internet ) in first week of August, > so I will aim to send this before I go on holidays. > > > > =========================================== > > > > *Draft of Open Letter on the importance to protecting independent peer > review frameworks **for Scholarly publications of Scientific > Associations* > > > Scholarly publications (edited books, journals etc) from scientific > associations/organisations has credibility and reputation because of > strong independent peer review frameworks . We are very fortunate in the > Geospatial domain to have many reputed Scientific Associations and > organisations (ICA, IGU, ISPRS, IEEE-GRSS, IAG etc) who have over many > decades provided strong leadership in advancement of geo science. > > > In times of fake news, science is usually one of those areas that can give > us orientation and we can rely on. Independent peer review frameworks for > Scholarly publications is among the foundations of good science. However, > this is obviously at risk now. If a professional association takes agrees > to publish scholarly publications (edited books etc) through a GIS > vendor’s press then there is potential issues with independent peer review > and ensuring scientific quality. It is only natural that any GIS vendor > publication press to have vested interests in promoting their products and > agenda. It also makes it easy for the vendor to get endorsement for their > products from scientific and professional organisations using this route. > Independent > peer review is the fundamental aspect of science and we need to ensure all > steps to protect this. > > > We are also now seeing a very disturbing trend with some vendors even > starting to trademark “ science” for marketing/sales of their products > and “science” is being misused for vendor marketing/sales! . I have > raised this issue through an open letter [1] . Science is not a > commodity to be marketed or sold by any vendor owners! I am very sad and > disappointed to see this degrading of science happening. Scientific > organisations should not endorse any specific vendor products etc as > “Science” and take strong moral stand against marketing of products as > “Science’ by any vendor owners! > > > > I am a volunteer for the ICA for the last 15 years and always done my best > in my small way to support ICA . Around one year back, i*n the light of > the **International Map Year (IMY)* <http://mapyear.org/>*, the *The > International Cartographic Association (ICA) started an excellent > initiative *for highlighting the value of cartography by “mapping” the **UN > sustainable development goals* <https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/>*.* > Building upon this, The ICA community started work on a book on UN SDG > Mapping building upon the posters of the various commissions on this > [2]. This is a great community initiative developed with inputs from all > colleagues in commissions of the ICA. The Open Source Geospatial Commission > colleagues also contributed our inputs for this. When the book project was > announced, I did my best to contact colleagues to contribute to this in > good faith. I didn’t have the faintest idea that it was being planned to be > published through a properitary GIS vendor publication press! As soon > as I came to know about this, I did contact Menno -Jan with my concerns and > requested him that as this is a community book project to please allow open > discussions and keep the community updated [3] . I was very surprised that > there was no open and transparent discussions on selecting the book > publisher was done. > > > From an email from Anthony Robinson on 16th July 2018, I understand now > that ICA is not proceeding with the vendor GIS publication press (Esri > press) for the SDG book and I welcome this. But it is important we > need to be learn lessons from this mistake and not repeat this in future. We > are all humans and make mistakes. > > > I fully respect the right of individuals publishing their personal work > [1] in any publication house that they wish. But as officers of Scientific > Organisations, esp. in times of some vendor owners > doing marketing/sales on “Science” , I request all colleagues to be > careful not to do anything that will undermine independent peer review > process. > > > I am suggesting some initial ideas that we all can take as a community to > help reduce this problem in the future > > > > > - All Scientific Associations and organisations should ensure that > there is full open and transparent discussions allowed before choosing any > publishers of scholarly publications (Edited Books etc). > > > > - It is important that GIS scientific associations/organisations take > strong moral stand against taking sponsorship/royalty etc for > scholarly publications from all GIS vendors . Independent peer review > system is the fundamental aspect of science. So I am humbly requesting all > Scientific organisations to not use any GIS vendor controlled press > for publishing scholarly outputs (edited books etc). GIS > scientific organisations should not take any sponsorship or royalty > for scholarly publications (books, journals etc) from any GIS vendors > . If a scientific association takes agrees to publish scholarly > publications (edited books etc) through the vendor’s press then there > is potential issues with independent peer review and ensuring scientific > quality. It is only natural that any GIS vendor publication press to have > vested interests in promoting their products and agenda. It also makes it > easy for the vendor to get endorsement for their products from scientific > and professional organisations using this route. Independent peer > review is the fundamental aspect of science and we need to ensure all steps > to protect this. > > > > - Officers of Scientific Organisations and Editors of all GIS journals > declare > any conflict of interest with any vendors (funding/sponsorship/royalties > etc received from any GIS vendors currently or in the past) to ensure > transparency and good practices.They should not support any vendors > interest directly or indirectly. Scientific organisations should not > endorse any specific vendor products etc as “Science” and take strong moral > stand against marketing of products as “Science’ by any vendor owners! > > > > I am concerned with the wider degradation of science and education > happening in different sectors. This is a moral issue and needs all > organisations globally in science and education working together. > > > > It is the fundamental duty of all Officers of Scientific Organisations to > guard and protect independent peer review frameworks for Scholarly > publications of Scientific Associations. I am hopeful and confident that > that they will do this for the future. > > > Best wishes, > > > Suchith > > > > [1] https://www.rd-alliance.org/group/geospatial-ig/post/open- > letter-importance-scientific-freedom-and-public-good > > [2] https://icaci.org/maps-and-sustainable-development-goals/ > > [3] https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/geoforall/2017-June/003790.html > > [4] https://esripress.esri.com/display/index.cfm?fuseaction= > display&websiteID=254&moduleID=0 > > > > > This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee > and may contain confidential information. If you have received this > message in error, please contact the sender and delete the email and > attachment. > > Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not > necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham. Email > communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored > where permitted by law. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss@lists.osgeo.org > https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss >
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