Wow Open Access journals, open Access softwares, and plenty of undergraduates and graduate students who are interested in field and lab works. Now, I can do all of my projects almost at no cost, without hiring anyone with costly salary, benefits, and insurance. No wonder, John, the frustrated Post Doc, can't get a long-term stable career.
Toshihide "Hamachan" Hamazaki, PhD : 濱崎俊秀：浜ちゃん Alaska Department of Fish & Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99518 Ph: 907-267-2158 Fax: 907-267-2442 Cell: 907-440-9934 E-mail: toshihide.hamaz...@alaska.gov -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ecolo...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of malcolm McCallum Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 8:00 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Open Access and Intellectual Imperialism Approval required Re: [ECOLOG-L] Teaching Biostatistics !!! 1) I am a founding editor of Herpetological Conservation and Biology ( http://www.herpconbio.org).It charges nothing for anything. Our turn-around tends to be competitive with any other journal and if you look at the journal you will see that it is done pretty professionally and has a very good advisory board and editorial staff. This is done entirely by herpetologists without any cash outlay except for reserving the web address (~$25) and server costs (~$100). The layouts, editing, copy-editing, cover art, etc are all contributed. We are covered by all the major indexes, and ISI inclusion is hopefully forthcoming soon, and permanent copies are deposited in a series of major libraries. I am clearly convinced that for-pay online journals cover almost all of their overhead very early in the year. In fact, we have been approached by commercial companies who want to pick us up, and we have refused because it would escalate, not reduce costs. 2) If a discipline is not happy with the current journals, start a new one and do the buttload of work required to provide it a competitive showing. It really isn't that hard, you can even purchase, although we did not, pre-formatted websites on the web for a reasonable cost. It only takes a few folks who are dedicated, a lot of folks make it a breeze. 3) If you are a society that owns a journal consider moving your journal to your own server and abandoning the regular publishers. You can put every old paper on a website without any major problem. This can be done one of two way: (1) as an image files and then an abstract placed on the website so Google Scholar picks them up. Then go to the GS website and ask them to monitor your website. Its simple. 4) If you do not have the web programming background, get an undergraduate who is interested in the topic and make them the web manager. Today, many HighSchool students know web services and it is really no longer any harder than learning powerpoint or excel!!! 5) DON'T forget the Google Scholar database!!!! It is much more complete and refined today. YOu can also use Hartzing's publish or perish to determine your journal's relative citation rating (with some tweaking) and your personal citation rating using an h score and many other citation metrics. In 4 years, Google Scholar went from being pretty bad, to pretty good. If all the journal's make sure their papers are online and make sure they have inserted the journal into the google scholar search engine, then everyone everywhere would have access to everything. On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 6:56 PM, Wayne Tyson <landr...@cox.net> wrote: > (Suggested replacement post) > > Ecolog: > > "In my university I do not have access to literature sources like > Biological Abstracts for example to reach the authors and articles . . ." > > This is an excellent example, unfortunately, of how pricing intellectual > resources out of range for "outsiders" is a moral indictment of much of > academia. This man--or any man or woman or child (especially) should never > have to hit a university firewall, be required to pay tens of dollars ($30, > $40, and more) to download a pdf file, ad nauseam. Think of the burdensome > expense and effort required on the part of so many even to gain the > privilege of Internet access in the first place! > > Those truly concerned about the future of the earth and its life, even > civilization, should realize that the history of intellectual development is > one of free exchange of ideas and information, not its conversion into > profit centers. It is not the struggling who should pay the comfortable, it > is the comfortable who benefit from free intellectual synergy that compounds > like a breeder-reactor, who should pay forward and backwards to ensure > rather than obstruct such exchange. > > At long last, hath academia no sense of decency? Are there no institutions > out there sufficiently well endowed and clearly beneficiaries of the wealth > of intellectual struggle handed down from people like Dr. Voltolini > throughout history (and still do--Copernicus, Darwin . . .) who will turn > this embarrassing state of arrogant possessiveness around? > > Can you imagine having to make this kind of request at every stage of your > own process of intellectual enquiry? > > How is it possible that, this many years into one of the most > transformational achievements of human society, that Dr. Voltolini should > still be barred from journal access that costs zero to provide? > > Why not, at the individual level, that academics simply boycott journals > which charge for access and publish in open access journals? While these may > not be perfect at the moment, might not such a second-stage transformation > accelerate their development and foster rather than retard intellectual > synergy? > > WT > > PS: David has suggested that I explain "how journals (e.g. those of the > Ecological Society) are supposed to pay to publish papers if nobody has to > pay to read them." This email is intended to illuminate the problem and hear > from others before deigning to suggest how all of the complexities of this > issue should be resolved. The first step, of course, is in recognizing the > problem or refuting the assertion that there is a problem. I do not pretend, > in as brief an email as possible and still state my position unequivocally, > to cover every aspect of the subject. I do, however, know of institutions > that have cancelled journal subscriptions. I believe that very large > institutions (e.g. the University of California Library may have negotiated > price reductions from some journals; I am not up-to-date on this case, but > the UC Library did raise the issue quite vigorously a few years ago. > > I will offer the following observations, and invite correction if they are > in error. I hope this helps > > 1. The major "clay paper" journals are VERY profitable. > > 2. Publishing in such journals is a political balancing act, not to > mention that author charges are often involved. (I am not against reasonable > author charges if they do not inhibit publication on the basis of merit and > are collected on the basis of the ability to pay by, and the benefit to, > sponsoring institutions.) > > 3. It is impossibly expensive for independent researchers or those whose > affiliations do not subscribe to Internet journal service to scan great > volumes of literature. Abstracts are wholly inadequate for literature > "review." > > 4. I recognize that publication costs must be met, but > scientific/scholarly/intellectual publications should be financed by the > "nobility," not enrich them. Peer reviews should be the obligation of the > reviewers to the discipline involved. > > 5. I suggested a boycott, but only intend that measure for those entities > looking at pdf downloads (for example) as ways to embellish their > bottom-lines, particularly when they gouge for them (charge out of > proportion to their actual marginal cost). Since intellectual articles are > in relatively scant demand, they are not likely to be priced according to > pricing theory anyway, so the benefiting institutions should pay the actual > costs--plus a margin for a cushion-endowment perhaps. > > 6. I do not think David or anyone else should have to be bothered with > sending materials to requestors who are deprived of equal privileges/rights. > While this is generous in the extreme, there is still a faint sniff of > (unintended) patronizing in that, and the requestor must be driven to make > the request in the first place. Most simply suffer in silence. > > 7. My primary question to Ecolog remains "Is this intellectual imperialism > or not?" > > 8. One who is "in" simply cannot know what it is like to be "out." > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "VOLTOLINI" <jcvol...@uol.com.br> > To: <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU> > Sent: Friday, May 08, 2009 2:17 PM > Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Teaching Biostatistics !!! > > > > Dear friends, > > > > I am teaching Ecology and Biostatistics and I am working on different > ideas to teach data analyses for Biology students. > > > > Now, my students will measure several moluscan shells from polluted and > not polluted marine sites (it is a simulation!) and if they read about the > subject they will be more interested in the analysis! Do you have articles > about the "effect of pollution on shell size" ? > > > > In my university I do not have access to literature sources like > Biological Abstracts for example to reach the authors and articles and thats > why I requesting some articles. > > > > Thanks for any help!!! > > > > Voltolini > > > > > > > > Prof. Dr. J. C. VOLTOLINI > > Grupo de Estudos em Ecologia de Mamiferos (ECOMAM) > > UNITAU, Depto. Biologia, Taubate, SP. 12030-010. > > Grupo de pesquisa ECOMAM: http://jcvoltol.sites.uol.com.br/ > > Fotos de projetos e cursos: http://jcvoltol.fotoblog.uol.com.br/ > > Exemplo de um curso de ecologia de campo: http://trabiju.blogspot.com/ > > Fotos artisticas: http://voltolini.fotos.net.br/texturas > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.12.22/2105 - Release Date: 05/08/09 > 11:43:00 > -- Malcolm L. McCallum Associate Professor of Biology Texas A&M University-Texarkana Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology http://www.herpconbio.org http://www.twitter.com/herpconbio Fall Teaching Schedule & Office Hours: Landscape Ecology: T,R 10-11:40 pm Environmental Physiology: MW 1-2:40 pm Seminar: T 2:30-3:30pm Genetics: M 6-10pm Office Hours: M 3-6, T: 12-2, W: 3-4 1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution. 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction MAY help restore populations. 2022: Soylent Green is People! Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. 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