Re: Emerald speeds up publication with EarlyCite

[Phil Davis <pmd8@cornell.edu>]

One must remember that Emerald is not a publisher of the 
biomedical literature.  They specialize in Management and Library 
Science, fields whose articles gather few (if any) citations over 
long periods of time.  It is not surprising that this publisher 
wishes to give a head-start for these articles, hoping that some 
will be cited while their Impact Factor window is still open. 
Perhaps the desire for citations is more powerful than the desire 
for readability?

--Phil Davis


Joseph J. Esposito wrote:

> Putting aside the indignities bestowed upon copy-editors, there
> is likely to be an unintended consequence of the growth of
> repositories for material that has not gone through a formal
> editorial process.
>
> With most of the world's STM research publications being written
> in English, there is a real disadvantage for authors for whom
> English is not their native language.  The research scientist who
> was born in Des Moines may not be an outstanding writer, but one
> would hope and expect that he or she does not have to struggle to
> be heard and understood.  This is not always the case for authors
> who live far from the anglophone world.
>
> I see this close up every day. I am married to an STM editor,
> whose primary task is editing, even rewriting biotechnology
> articles written by (mostly) Chinese scientists.  The publisher
> who finances this is making a large investment in scientific
> communications, though I think the capital she has put at risk is
> not appreciated by many in the scholarly community today. Most of
> the authors published in these journals would not be able to find
> a readership without this investment.  It is simplay amazing to
> think that many of these articles could, in their unedited state,
> show up in a repository.
>
> The trend toward "unmediated" publication carries the implication
> that native English speakers have a leg up in the competition for
> the research community's attention.  For myself, for my children,
> I say, Hooray!  But my democratic heart is uneasy.  Unmediated
> publication is anti-egalitarian in practice, whatever it might be
> in theory.
>
> I said this is an unintended consequence, and it is, but it is
> not or should not be an unanticipated consequence.  I wish the
> advocates of Fast! Instant! and Cheap! publishing would reflect
> on this before crowing about their New and Improved programs.
>
> Joe Esposito