I was asked for a summary of this information once I compiled it. I am = certain others will reply, but... =20 Based on 35 responses I ranked the three kinds of journals where = 1=3Dbest, 2=3D OK, 3=3Dbad. =20 =20 Although open access with page charges had the highest absolut mean = score (mean =3D 1.971, SE=3D0.16) it was not significantly different = from the ranking for journals in which authors had the option to pay for = free access (mean =3D 2.029, SE =3D 0.156). Closed access with no page = charges was the least preferred (mean =3D 2.486, SE =3D 0.144). =20 =20 The general concensus of opinions fell into the following comments: 1) Not all authors can afford page charges. 2) Not all readers can afford download fees. 3) Reprints are readily available from authors (if they aren't dead) 4) People in the third world have no page charge support. 5) People without grants have no page charge support. 6) If I see a significant charge for downloading, I move on to a = different paper. =20 Based on these statistics, it makes little difference to the average = person whether the journal is entirely open access or if the author has = a choice in whether the manuscript would be open or paid access. It is = apparent, however, that a journal in which all articles are paid access = (except the abstract) is not desired by most people on these listserves. = I didn't include myself in this. Personally, I want people to get my = articles and I don't want to pay page charges. If I have budgeted grant = money for page charges, I always pay them. I would love to see open = access with no page charges, but of the choices I would prefer to see = authors have a choice whether their article is open or not. I think = this allows the poor to publsh, if you know the author's names you can = usually get a reprint. =20 Several people suggested both access and page charges should be free. I = agree in spirit, but this is not economically possible. One journal = publisher informed me that graphic design and layout charges can exceed = $1500 per issue. So even an online version has a substantial cost. = Someone has to pay the booty, and frankly you get what you pay for. If = it is all done on a volunteer basis, then if any one thing happens, the = journal stops functioning leading to reduced reader and author = confidence (I do know some journals have mastered this problem with = great expertise). I checked out the World Wide Web Journal of Biology, = and it is two years behind, and its appearance is such that I would = question putting my manuscripts in it. Podarcis used to be open access, = but it had to revert to paid access for similar reasons. Zootaxa is = currently a blended form. If you pay the charges, your article is open = access, if not the article will be published with an access charge. = This journal became a rapid online journal with a printed edition in = 2001. It now publishes more systematics manuscripts by more authors from = more countries than any other journal. In 2003 its ISI rating was 0.197 = and in 2004 the ISI rose to 0.448. It has only been eligible for ISI = rating since 2003. It will probably raise again in 2005. They only = published 20 papers in 2001, 107 papers in 2002, and 268 papers in 2003, = 396 in 2004, and so far 309 in 2005 . Many of these are huge monographs = exceeding 100 pages each. In 2001 the journal published 302 pages, 2445 = pages in 2002, 6033 pages in 2003, and 9581 pages in 2004. A huge = number of the articles are from the third world and on third world taxa. = =20 =20 Of course, hard copies need to be availble. Anything happens to the = electricity and you return to the stone age, furthermore, no future = generations may access the lost knowledge. Think about all of the = knowledge of the various civilizations that have succeeded one another = up to now. How more advanced would we be if the mathematical advances = of ancient Indian and Chinese civilizations had been available to = europeans? And what artistic and scientific discoveries were lost to the = fall of Greek and Egyptian empires? =20 =20 I am constantly reminded of our confusion as to what happened to various = civilizations who left no written word for future civilizations to = study. A computer is nothing without electricity. Even film = deteriorates quickly, consider that nearly all of the movies from the = early 1900's are gone and yet even the dead sea scrolls partly survived = the testing of time. The scientific endeavors of our current = civilization are not only important because of their intrinsic value, = but also for the non-obvious things that our manuscripts tell about our = society and its values. If the only source of this info is a set of = magnetic images on a tape or disc the information will eventually be = lost. If this happens we are doomed to the fate of the Eloi who had = books, but didn't read them. The electronic access should be to make = the information widely available. Is payment for access wrong? you can = argue such, but there are no free libraries. Either taxes pay for them = or a library card is purchased, at a university library tuition also = supplements these costs. =20 =20 Malcolm L. McCallum Assistant Professor Department of Biological Sciences Texas A&M University Texarkana 2600 Robison Rd. Texarkana, TX 75501 O: 1-903-233-3134 H: 1-903-791-3843 Homepage: https://www.eagle.tamut.edu/faculty/mmccallum/index.html =20
________________________________ From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news on behalf of = M=E1gori Kriszti=E1n Sent: Wed 12/21/2005 10:00 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: online journals Dear Malcolm, Actually, I think neither of the three versions you suggested are ideal. The ideal solution would be to have journals that do NOT charge page charges and are open-source at the same time. Of course, this is idealism. If we stick to the three options you suggested, I think we should analize them based on their effect on readers/contributors with less funding (third world/poor country researchers/students). I'm from Hungary, so I now what it is when you just can't get the article you need anywhere in your country. > 1) Journal is open access, the publisher will charge page charges to =3D > authors. This is good for all readers, including researchers and students in poor countries. However, it's not good for contributors from these conditions. Consequently, research published in these journals will come from researchers from the US and Western Europe with good funding. This would we a good quality journal to read, but would be unreachable to publish in for researchers in poor countries. > 2) No page charges (except color plates), but the publisher charges =3D > download fees and only the abstracts are open access. =3D20 This is a good journal to publish for researchers from poor countries. However, only researchers in the US and Western Europe at main universities could afford to read it ! In this case, the strange effect could develop that one cannot afford to read his/her own article. Also, researchers in poor countries would may be reluctant to publish (even for free) in a journal they cannot read. > 3) Page charges are optional for the author, if the author pays the =3D > entire article is open access, if not then only the abstract will be =3D > accessible without paying a download fee. =3D20 This is obviously a mixed model. This says that if an author has a lot of funding, he can do a favor to poor researchers by making his/her paper open access. But why would someone spend research funding for such a favor ? If the author wants to do this favor, he/she can do it free by sending his/her paper in email to researchers who contact him/her, or (although illegally) he/she can post the paper on a lab website. Also, I fail to understand why the funding agencies would allow such favor as a legitimate funding of research money. The only justification I can think of is to further the spread of the knowledge in the paper, but that is unneccessary if the paper is already highly relevant. So I don't really think this is a good model. But maybe I'm too skeptical. Or maybe some other incentive could be devised for the rich researcher to pay page charges in addition to being nice to poor colleagues. For short, I think a good combination of type 1 and type 2 journals do the job of allowing researchers/students in poor countries both to read journals and publish in journals - although not in the same ones. Of course, citation indexes of type 1 papers will be much higher than of type 2 papers, which will create an unfair situation for researhers in poor countries competing with researchers in the US and Western Europe - but this is nothing new. Anyway, this is my 2 cents. Krisztian Magori postdoctoral researcher Gould Lab, Method Rd, Unit #1 Department of Entomology NCSU, Raleigh, NC > In case someone is unaware, If an article is entirely open access then =3D > anyone can read it or download it online. IF only the abstract is =3D > available then you can read the abstract online, but must pay a fee to =3D > download the entire article. > =3D20 > Thanks for the feedback, its actually very important! > =3D20 > Malcolm L. McCallum > Assistant Professor > Department of Biological Sciences > Texas A&M University Texarkana > 2600 Robison Rd. > Texarkana, TX 75501 > O: 1-903-233-3134 > H: 1-903-791-3843 > Homepage: https://www.eagle.tamut.edu/faculty/mmccallum/index.html > =3D20 > _________________________________________________________________________= ________ Kar=E1csonyi =E9s Akci=F3s csengohangok a meg=FAjult Sztarsms oldalon - = http://www.sztarsms.hu
