Dear all, So why do we keep submitting papers to this group of journals? Are page charges so far spread that fitting, but free-of-charge journals are so rare? I think the scientific community, being both primary producer and consumer of the journals, has more power than it thinks!
I hope you all will forgive me for starting again on copyright law, BUT: does transfering copyright to the journal mean we can not offer our own papers on personal websites? Kind regards, Jasja Dekker -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Loren Benton Byrne Sent: woensdag 21 december 2005 19:32 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: young scientists ability to publish compromised by page charges to authors From Bill Silvert: "We shouldn't assume that everyone has access to generous research grants." This is particularly true for young scientists such as graduate students that may have lots of ideas and data for papers but who have limited funds to publish them. The page-charge-to-authors system seems to promote a positive fedback effect whereby people with money can publish, thus increasing their chances of obtaining more funding to allow them to publish some more, increasing their chances of getting more grants... For example, I have an idea for an interdisciplinary conceptual paper. The ideal journal for publishing this type of paper charges $500 per article thus prohibiting me from publishing while in graduate school because I don't have the monies available to me for page charges. It's frustrating because # of pubs on a CV can make or break one's attractiveness for jobs. In reality however, # of pubs on a CV may be a reflection of having funding sources rather than having good ideas or the ability to write. Cheers... Loren Byrne -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bill Silvert Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 12:29 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Online journals and publications That works fine for what I assume is a regional society in a rich country, but the critical issue raised by Werner is what happens with international journals where some of the authors and some of the readers may not be able to pay the kinds of fees that we are used to in Canada? I might point out that even in a country like Canada not every author can pay for publication. I retired in 1998 and thus lost support for page charges, but I am trying to remain active. Without funding I find I have to be very selective in where I submit. We shouldn't assume that everyone has access to generous research grants. Bill Silvert ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Simaika" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 9:55 AM Subject: Re: Online journals and publications > The Entomological Society of British Columbia asks authors to pay for > their submissions. However, each submission published in the society's journal > is > available online, free of charge. I think that this is a brilliant way of > sharing a wealth of knowledge and new developments, if only on a > relatively regional scale. Certainly, bigger journals should follow > this approach. > > Best wishes, > > JP Simaika. > -----Original Message----- > From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bill Silvert > Sent: December 20, 2005 2:34 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Online journals and publications > > Werner raises a good point, for some scientists it simply is not > reasonable to pay to read articles in their field. The result is that > science becomes > concentrated in wealthy countries and labs with institutional > subscriptions. > > If you are not in such a place, you just don't have access. > > I don't think that science should be just for the wealthy. Those of us > with > institutional subscriptions should be willing to download and transfer > papers to our less fortunate colleagues. I find it a bit embarassing that > I > have to rely on a former student to help me keep abreast of developments > in > my field, but that is the way that scientific publishing works. It is a > lousy system, and we should do our best to subvert it. > > Bill Silvert > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "DeerLab" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2005 7:39 PM > Subject: Re: [Tws-l] online journals > > >> When I am asked to pay 1-2 days-worth of salary to download a paper, >> I just move on. From what I gather, many colleagues are in the same >> boat. There are some good journals which supposedly on purpose do not >> even provide an email contact for the author, that is unacceptable >> because it is counterproductive. >> >> Werner Flueck >> National Research Council >> Argentina >
