On Sat, 25 Sep 1999, Dee Wood <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I have been very interested in the recent exchanges about reducing the
> cost of peer review. You may like to know that a group of publishers in
> the UK are also working on this. Using the traditional methods as a
> starting point, we have been using a combination of the Web and PDF for
> peer review. Our initial trials have received a high level of support
> from authors and referees alike. Editorial staff have also been
> enthusiastic. Please see www.espere.org for further details.
> --
> Dee Wood, ESPERE Project Manager
> http://www.espere.org
Reducing the cost (and increasing the speed and efficiency) of peer
review by taking full advantage of the new online medium is certainly
extremely desirable and welcome (and all journals are currently
hurrying to do it).
But the REAL cost to "reduce" is reader-institution-end access-tolls
(Subscription-Site-License/Pay-Per-View [S/L/P]: And these must
be reduced to ZERO, and not a penny more!
The first step toward that cost reduction is for authors to
self-archive their peer-reviewed papers publicly on the Web. Once that
makes paper and other forms of distribution (and their associated
costs) obsolete, by providing free access to this give-away literature
for one and all, S/L/P will no longer be supportable, and necessity
will be the mother of invention...
So by all means innovate to cut the costs of peer review to minimum --
but think ahead also of cutting OUT all costs (and revenues) associated
with providing an S/L/P toll-based PRODUCT: For the SERVICE of
implementing Quality-Control/Certification QC/C (peer review and
editing) will be the only one that the refereed journal publishers of
the very near future will be providing.
NOTE: A complete archive of this ongoing discussion of "Freeing the
Refereed Journal Literature Through Online Self-Archiving" is available
at the American Scientist September Forum (98 & 99):
http://amsci-forum.amsci.org/archives/september98-forum.html
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Stevan Harnad [log in to unmask]
Professor of Cognitive Science [log in to unmask]
Department of Electronics and phone: +44 23-80 592-582
Computer Science fax: +44 23-80 592-865
University of Southampton http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/
Highfield, Southampton http://www.princeton.edu/~harnad/
SO17 1BJ UNITED KINGDOM
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