On 2011-11-07, at 3:30 AM, Allen Kleiman wrote:
Authors do not write for free.Â
1. Publication = Tenure = Promotion = Money!
2. Publication = Prestige = Speaking Engagements = Money!
3. Publication = Professorships = Money!
4. and etc.
Not a single penny of that Money is paid to authors by *publishers*, in exchange
for being *given* their paper, cost-free, to go ahead and sell. So it is
*completely* irrelevant. That is the point you keep missing in your analogy to
auto re-sale.
When you sell a car that you designed and built to a vendor, the vendor pays you
for it, in exchange for the right to sell it to someone else. If you happen to
win an award for the auto design from your design institute, *that's not the
vendor paying you for the right to sell your car.*
The only essential service a journal provides is the one you kept referring to
as "verification of its reliability and safety by two or three mechanics of
questionable qualifications and skill [likewise for free]" -- Yet it's in
exchange for that [peer review]-- and not for cash -- that authors give
publishers their paper to sell, royalty-free.
Green Open Access to the author's refereed final draft online is provided by the
author as a supplement, so that his paper's research uptake, usage, citations
and impact (which are what generate the Tenure, Promotion, Prestige, Speaking
Engagements, Professorships -- and research progress) can be provided by *all*
its would-be users, not only by those whose institutions can afford to
subscribe
to the publisher's version of record.
Scrap the car-sale analogy. It simply does not fit the subtle and unique case of
refereed research publication of impact-seeking (not royalty-seeking) work.
Stevan Harnad
On 2011-11-06, at 4:08 PM, Allen Kleiman wrote:
Is this a matter of 'commerce'?
Yes indeed, but definitely not commerce along the lines of the analogy you
describe below:
Suppose I own a car and [1] offer it for sale to a rental company
with [2] the verification of its reliability and safety by two or
three mechanics of questionable qualifications and skill. However,
[3] I want to include a condition of sale that the buyer will make
the car available to all the poor people in my town for free since
they can't afford to pay for the rental.
Â
When a Publisher offers to print an article -- certified by referees
of questionable repute -- and [4] absorbs the cost of publication,
distribution, and etc., isn't he entitled to [5] retain the rights
of sale?
Now let me count the myriad ways your analogy fails:
 [1] offer [car] for sale: No, authors don't sell but give their paper to the
publisher. They don't ask or get a penny in return.
 [2] verification of [car's] reliability: The referees, too, offer their
services for free -- but to the publisher, not the author.
 [3] condition[s] of sale: No sale, no sale conditions. Author gives the paper
to the publisher for free.
[4] cost of publication, distribution, and etc.  In exchange for managing and
certifying the outcome of the refereeing ("by referees of questionable repute"),
the author gives the publisher is given all rights to sell, on paper or online.
[5] retain the rights of sale:Â Â In exchange for managing and certifying the
outcome of the refereeing ("by referees of questionable repute"), the author
gives the publisher is given all rights to sell, on paper or online.
In addition, the author simply places a free copy of the author's final draft
("certified by referees of questionable repute") online for those who cannot
afford to pay for access to the publisher's version of record, on paper or
online.
That's Green OA.
