The physical sciences seem to be halfway there with arXiv.org . Jane
On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 3:22 PM, joseph gathman <[email protected]> wrote: > Jane wrote: >> The journal's contribution is coordinating peer review, formatting the >> paper and, most importantly, disseminating the paper. > > It seems we are approaching the time when journals become obsolete for these > functions. We could do all this through the internet right now. Imagine > just posting your paper here on ECOLOG-L, where anybody can review it and > comment publicly. It would make for more dynamic review and discussion of > research. > > So now it seems the main function of journals is to make the publication > "official" so it will count toward retention and tenure and other > professional tally counting. > > Joe Gathman > Assistant Professor > University of Wisconsin - River Falls > > "It's called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it." > -George Carlin > > >> Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 14:26:26 -0400 >> From: Jane Shevtsov <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: Open Access and Intellectual Imperialism >> Approval required >> >> Strictly speaking, you're correct. However, the purpose of >> copyright >> law is to reward people who do creative work. That would be >> us. The >> journal's contribution is coordinating peer review, >> formatting the >> paper and, most importantly, disseminating the paper. For >> this, they >> get paid by subscribers and sometimes page charges. That >> seems more >> than fair -- really, the for-profit journals should be >> paying us, the >> way magazines pay writers. > > > > > -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov Ecology Ph.D. candidate, University of Georgia co-founder, <www.worldbeyondborders.org> Check out my blog, <http://perceivingwholes.blogspot.com>Perceiving Wholes "Political power comes out of the look in people's eyes." --Kim Stanley Robinson, _Blue Mars_
