RE: In the news (Georgia State)

["Ian.Russell" <ian.russell@cytherean.co.uk>]

Thomas' reply raises some further questions:

1) Strictly speaking, arXiv is an electronic preprint server so 
the papers there may not be the published version.  Are 
researchers in physics happy to use that version?  Would 
researchers in human medicine be happy to use a version of 
unknown providence?  Would librarians be happy with that 
situation?

2) The content that I am familiar with on arXiv almost always 
associates a posted article with a journal.  Authors very quickly 
add 'submitted to Physical Review E' or 'Published in Classical 
and Quantum Gravity' (or whatever journal) to their preprint. 
Why?  Well to get the authority / credibility / imprimatur / 
brand identity of the journal.  This is tied to - but not 
exclusively gained by - the peer review process of the journal. 
It is very important to note that for many, many years (going 
back to pre-web) journals have NOT been the method of primary 
dissemination in some subjects. arXiv may provide access to 
content, but trustworthiness and authority - for the time being 
at least - still comes from journals (whatever business model is 
used).  What would happen to academia if the primary mechanism of 
identifying trustworthy content and assessing the order in which 
to read papers was taken away?

3) As someone who represents society publishers I find Thomas' 
final point very interesting.  I would be even more interested to 
hear any ideas for mechanisms to facilitate the flow of money 
away from library acquisition budgets to scholarly societies. 
Any ideas?

Ian Russell
CEO, ALPSP

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-liblicense-
> l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Thomas Krichel
> Sent: 23 April 2008 00:05
> To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
> Subject: Re: In the news (Georgia State)
>
> Ian.Russell writes
>
>> So presumably this is one of the journals that Thomas
>> recommends librarians to cancel?
>
> Yes, because it is in Physics, where there is already a lot of
> open access. Presumably most papers in JHEP can be found on
> arXiv. The funds saved from cancellations should be used to
> sponsor scholarly societies or groups to set up open access
> resources.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Thomas Krichel                    http://openlib.org/home/krichel
>                                RePEc:per:1965-06-05:thomas_krichel
> phone: +7 383 330 6813                       skype: thomaskrichel