Fytton, et al,
In a more distributed (aka deconstructed :-) ) academic publishing model
the editing/formating issue is allowed for by having either external
designers/copy editors who tidy/improve papers for a fee (many
Universities already bring in external experts for the design of their Web
pages) or by having in-house experts who can do the same. Many
Universities already have print/publishing units with designers and copy
editors.
Given the plasticity of current text production tools it is possible to
envisage, for example, a company that specialises in editing/tidying
chemical articles. This company would take an article (pre- or post
accreditation), edit/format it and then combine the result with a standard
style/template produced by the University. This would produce documents
that have the quality of writing and layout of current journals but are
identified as coming from a specific University or other source.
The cost moves from the 'buyer' to the 'seller' but in the current
situation where Universities are competing to attract students and
research funding many might find this acceptable. In addition others have
argued that the overall cost to the academic community of a 'producer pays
- user gets it free' model for academic publishing may also be less.
Regards,
John Smith,
University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.
On Tue, 30 Jan 2001, Fytton Rowland wrote:
> While I lean toward's Stevan Harnad's view of the world rather than Albert
> Henderson's in general, I think it is worth pointing out that scholarly
> journal editors are not *just* gatekeepers. They don't just certify papers
> as acceptable. They also *improve* papers. Henderson was right to point
> out that often papers as submitted -- even if scientifically valid -- are
> badly written, poorly structured, etc. Academic editors, assisted by their
> paid editorial assistants, create in many cases a piece of work that
> provides a better impression of the authors than they had provided for
> themselves. I have argued before -- mainly in my chapter in the 1996 Peek
> and Newby book -- that there remains a need for professional publishing
> expertise in the electronic era. In Harnad's current vision of things --
> the journals carry on, but authors mount their own papers for
> free-of-charge access on the WWW -- maybe this professional attention is
> part of the value added that the journals can lay claim to providing.
>
> Fytton Rowland.
>
> **********************************************************
> Fytton Rowland, M.A., Ph.D., F.I.Inf.Sc., Lecturer,
> Deputy Director of Undergraduate Programmes and
> Programme Tutor for Publishing with English,
> Department of Information Science,
> Loughborough University,
> Loughborough, Leics LE11 3TU, UK.
>
> Phone +44 (0) 1509 223039 Fax +44 (0) 1509 223053
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> http://info.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ls/staff/frowland.html
> **********************************************************
>
|