RE: Monopolies in publishing

["Terry Hulbert" <terry.hulbert@iop.org>]

Hmm, I knew I'd regret this :-)

>>...they are preprints without a journal 'label sown into them', and in
>>the journals they obviously have this 'label'.  <<

Methinks you're being just a tad disingenuous here, Jan. The difference
between these two manifestations of the article isn't just a 'label'. It's
a label that's been through a process - peer-review This is the key
difference, I guess - although not the only one. Maybe this is worth
paying for?

The only difference between BMC and the vast majority of other publishers
is who's paying for this. And, as is often pointed out, how much is being
paid.

Terry Hulbert

>>> Jan Velterop <jan@biomedcentral.com> 07/11/03 12:19pm >>>
Terry, You're absolutely right. In physics, articles do seem to exist in
two places. But they're not exactly the same. In Archiv, they are
preprints without a journal 'label sown into them', and in the journals
they obviously have this 'label'. The biggest puzzle to me is, too, why do
large numbers of librarians fork out often substantial sums, basically
just for the labels. Maybe the labels are worth it. Perhaps one of the
librarians on this list might want to comment.

Jan Velterop