Just turning things over in the back of my mind. Eric was pointing out that, without the peer review that goes with publication in a prestigious journal, a paper isn't taken seriously. as Robert points out, peer review offers at least some assurance that a paper does not contain 'junk information'. But, given that we don't get paid for reviewing, and reviewing standards vary considerably across publications (so we can't quite be sure of those assurances unless a particular journal is highly prestigious particularly for its rigour), is there another way?
On the question of publishing but not preaching to the converted, one could see that some kind of peer review might help. I'm thinking that specialised publishing from leaders in the field, but pitching at the early-undergrad /bright-and-interested 6th former (in the Uk - that's a 17 year old; not sure of equivalents elsewhere)/ New Scientist reader would be of great benefit. Apart from anything else, it would provide good introductory teaching material, open source. I know all this openness puts the wind up those whose business model requires that information should be constrained (such as journals and universities), but it could be used to drive up the level of debate. One could see how discussion papers and erudite responses (which also need some kind of review process) could be quite illuminating. It still needs some kind of editorial function, I think, to keep up standards and to minimise 'noise' In the area of 3-d sound and spatial hearing, I would think this list is where one would look first regards Dr Peter Lennox School of Technology, Faculty of Arts, Design and Technology University of Derby, UK e: p.len...@derby.ac.uk t: 01332 593155 ________________________________________ From: sursound-boun...@music.vt.edu [sursound-boun...@music.vt.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Greene [gre...@math.ucla.edu] Sent: 12 January 2012 06:15 To: Eric Carmichel; Surround Sound discussion group Subject: Re: [Sursound] Motivation for authors(Robert's off topic rant!) Scientific literature ought to be free or at least sold at the cost of its distribution. Publishers in the science field for profit are like zombies--they are dead but they are still walking around. There is a law about to be introduced in the California Legislature that will require courses in state universities to use open access textbooks(whenever possible). This is an admirable trend. Textbook publishing has become a scam, and so has journal publishing to a remarkable extent. They charge in many cases what the traffic will bear. I say this having written several book published in the old way and a whole lot of regular journal articles in journals with high subscription rates, over the years. That was the old way. But it is about to end, and good riddance to my mind. Some books cost money to make. If you want a beautiful art book, expect to pay for it. But there is no excuse for a calculus textbook to cost anything much, and even less excuse for old journal articles to cost anything at all. If it is in a library, it ought to be free on line unless it is new production(it does cost something to run a peer reviewed journal, but it costs a lot less than publishers tend to charge. And I know because I am an editor of a journal--and a good one--that publishes things at cost, a nonprofit but successful operation. Our subscription rate is a fraction of the commercial scientific journal rates--but our journal is just as good, has the same kind of refereeing processes and the same kind of referees, etc.) The on line revolution may not be all good--there is a lot of junk information on the web and it is not always easy for people to figure out that it is junk, but it will be good for science in the long run. It is ALREADY being good for science. Check out Project Euclid to see what I mean http://projecteuclid.org/DPubS?Service=UI&version=1.0&verb=Display&handle=euclid&page=browse Not everything there is open access so far--far from it. But soon it will be because competition will make it so. And this can be made to happen by the authors. Boycott sending your stuff to journals that do not have open access or at least cheap subscription rates. What conceivable excuse is there for anyone to be making a profit on the distribution of scientific information? None at all. Robert On Wed, 11 Jan 2012, Eric Carmichel wrote: > Hello Fons, > Your query ("what motivates authors to make their work available in this > way") made me think of my own situation. Perhaps publishing in peer-reviewed > journals is analogous to receiving Merit Badges in Scouts: In some instances, > it?s how one gets rated, noticed, or makes it to the next level. It seems (at > least in the U.S.) that professors are pressured to publish in professional > journals. As this applies to me, I was told (as a Master?s student) that I?d > need at least a few peer-reviewed articles under my belt in order to get into > a doctoral program of study. There?s a catch, of course, because it?s > difficult to do research in hearing science without university affiliation. > At present, I?m pursuing research while, at the same time, on the lookout for > a doctoral advisor. Doing good deeds and being committed to purposeful work > is great, but I suppose I'm still deficient when it comes to those "Merit > Badges." > I have written a couple of noteworthy articles regarding hearing, but only > one appeared in a "peer-reviewed" journal. An earlier article was intended > for a much broader (albeit layman) readership, and it reached people who > could truly benefit from the information contained within the article. > Specifically, the article was about hearing protection and muzzle blasts, and > it appeared in Outdoor Life magazine. Submitting the same article to, for > example, Audiology, might have earned Brownie points needed for admission to > grad school, but submitting an article regarding hearing protection to > hearing scientists / audiologists is simply preaching to the choir. I was > happy that the article found favor with a large readership even though it > didn't appear in a "professional" journal. A second article regarding > binaural electronic hearing protectors found its way to Noise & Health (which > IS peer-reviewed), and I was grateful that they accepted it for publication. I > had previously submitted the article to JASA, and had received a very kind > rejection letter. Some magazines will accept or reject articles because of > reader interest or current research trends. The Journal of the Audio > Engineering Society is known for publishing articles on Ambisonics, but maybe > they rejected a series of related articles, and Acta Acustica united with > Acustica picked them up (?). Once copyrighted, I imagine that the publisher > has exclusive rights to the manuscript, even in derivative form. But how they > can justify high prices certainly eludes me. Downloading single articles from > JASA is kind-of pricey, too. Subscription to AES?s library is reasonable, and > you wonder why others aren?t the same. Furthermore, the AES offers > anthologies that include hard-to-find articles. > I wished I could simply upload research and schematic diagrams to my website > and make them available for good will to all researchers. But unless > something gets published in a professional journal, it may be (mis)construed > as ?amateurish? or ?unimportant? to those in academia. How unfortunate this > is! Please know that I am grateful to all of you who have freely shared you > insights, expertise, and wisdom, whether you?re an audio professional with > years of experience or a hobbyist with personal opinions on music and > Ambisonics. > Sincerely, > Eric > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/private/sursound/attachments/20120111/f30e268e/attachment.html> > _______________________________________________ > Sursound mailing list > Sursound@music.vt.edu > https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound _______________________________________________ Sursound mailing list Sursound@music.vt.edu https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound _____________________________________________________________________ The University of Derby has a published policy regarding email and reserves the right to monitor email traffic. 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