Re: Elsevier's Vanishing Act-The Real Issue

[Fran�ois Lapelerie <lapeleri@voltaire.timone.univ-mrs.fr>]

David Goodman is right, but it's not only for political correctness that
AAV's paper has been removed. It's for commercial reasons too: Nature, vol
6862, vol 414, p. 382: "One ASHI member was so offended by the article
that he resigned, she (i. e. Suciu Foca) says. " We would have had mass
resignations and the journal would have been destroyed if this paper were
allowed to remain." Well, this is a scientific argument! And we must
remember that during centuries books have been burnt all over the world
for political, scientific or religious reasons. Nowdays, the fire is
electronic.

"Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings".
Heinrich Heine


Francois Lapelerie
Universite de la Mediterranee
Marseille. France
Email: lapeleri@voltaire.timone.univ-mrs.fr
____

>The real issue is not the poor writing and editorial and publishing
>practices of those concerned, but that an article was removed after
>publication from a scholarly journal for the worst of all imaginable
>reasons.
>
>Not for reasons of copyright violation, not for dual publication, not for
>plagiarism, not for disputes about licensing, not for violations of
>protection of human subjects, not for dangerous error, not for national
>security, not even for scientific fraud: for political correctness.
>
>The physical removal of a published scientific work because of politics
>has until now been seen only in fiction-- and in Stalin's Russia.  Orwell
>was too pessimistic--but only by 18 years.
>
>My personal view, and I hope the personal view of us all.
>
>Dr. David Goodm an
>Princeton University Library
>and
>Palmer School of Library & Information Science, Long Island University
>dgoodman@princeton.eduu