On-line Paleo. Pubs.

From
Date
Reply-To
Lots of good-stuff on PaleoNet about on-line pubs.  I guess that means it
must be on a lot of people's minds.  Just a few comments, clarifications,
and rejoinders.

First, I don't think it's a question of "if" on-line paleo. journals should
exist.  Rather, it's a question of when on-line paleo. journals will exist
and what form they should or might take.  Of course we can learn important
lessons from disciplines (e.g., physics and mathematics) that already
support on-line publications and I hope that persons familiar with some of
these will tell us how they are organized.  However, paleo. has it's own
traditions, standards, etc. and I suspect that a fair amount of trial and
error will be involved before we get the format right.  As Henry points out
the commercial journals would need to find a way of making money out of the
on-line format.  There are plenty of ways to do this already (e.g., make it
a read-only file, provide the title, author's name(s) and abstract free of
charge to browsers but have the system ask for a credit card no. before
access is granted to the body of the article itself).  The profit motive
(that I have no objection to in principle), however, need not constrain
non-profit organizations or private groups from putting up on-line
journals.

Short digression: On-line may be a misleading term to use in the present
context.  What I really mean is any reviewed set of manuscripts with
associated figures, tables, appendices, etc. that may be distributed by
electronic means.  That concepts covers a lot of ground so as long as we
all understand that by on-line I mean a class of manuscript formats
(electronic) and a generalized distributional method (InterNet) perhaps we
can avoid confusion.

Second, the reviewer question.  To my way of thinking this is a question
that hinges on one's personal perspective.  I review a lot of manuscripts,
proposals, monographs, books, you name it in the course of each year.  I
have been paid to review a few books over the years by their publishers.
That is pretty much standard publishing practice.  But for the most part I
receive no monetary renumeration for my time spent engaged in this activity
though oftentimes considerable effort is involved.  Am I doing this for
free?  By my own standards I am.  At least, that is how I look at it.  I do
reviews as a service to the profession.  If I wasn't doing reviews of
course I'd be doing something else...something my employers might regard as
the reason they give me a check at the end of each month.  However, I hope
I don't let those considerations dictate how much time I spend doing
particular tasks or evaluating what to do.  I do paleontology as I see fit
and if someone wants to pay me for it, great.  If they don't I'll do
something else.  But I don't do any of it for money as the prime motivating
factor. If people want to think of their time as being worth money and all
their activities as being reducible to dollars & cents (or pounds & pence)
I can see the logic of that philosophy.  I just don't personally subscribe
to that world view.  And I don't think most paleontologists do either.

More to the point, in terms of the reviewing process I don't see that we're
talking about anything unusual or out of the ordinary by transferring this
concept to electronic manuscripts and electronic journals.  If anything the
reviewing process should be made easier and will certainly be made faster.

On a related question, should the cost of Internet access be figured into
this discussion.  Once again, it depends on your perspective.  Universities
and museums have provided funds for Internet access for their own reasons
just as they provide a phone in your office.  What you do with that access,
just as what you do with that phone, is (within certain bounds) usually
left to the discretion of the scientist.  I agree with Henry and would ask
"Why not use the tools we have been given (for whatever reason) to improve
our science?"  None of us have to pay for PaleoNet and it seems to work
pretty well.

Third, accreditation.  I am aware of no formal body that accredits
scientific journals.  The accreditation that Whitey Hagadorn mentions
represents an informal, but nevertheless highly influential, ranking system
that inevitably develops between alternative journals just as it does
between alternative universities, museums, football teams, you name it.
Whitey asks how other institutions will view electronic paleo. journals and
whether or not they will attract the 'best' contributions.  The simple
answer is that we'll never really know until we establish one and see.  I
suspect that if the reviewing process is rigorous and if the material can
be assessed by sufficient numbers of interested paleontologists, there will
be very little difference between a print and an electronic journal (if one
ignores the costs involved).  The only real stumbling block I see is that
new species published in an electronic format are not currently recognized
as valid.  This might restrict those papers to the print format for the
time being.  However, the simple existence of eletronic journals in our
field will help get that nomenclatural rule changed.

Fourth, copyright.  For the purposes of this discussion I don't think it's
as important as Christian makes it out to be.  In both the US and UK all
material is regarded as the creator's property (he or she automatically
holds the copyright) at the time of its creation.  Most journals these days
require us to sign away our copyright to them before they agree to publish
our papers.  If anything electronic journals should function to allow
paleontologists more control (not less) over their creations, at least in a
legal sense.

Finally, as to what method of access would be preferable for an electronic
paleo. journal (ftp, WWW) I see issues like this as where the discussion
needs to go now.  Once again, it's not a question of if, only one of when
and how.  With respect to the former, the sooner the better suits me just
fine.

Norm MacLeod


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Norman MacLeod
Senior Science Officer
N.MacLeod@nhm.ac.uk (Internet)
N.MacLeod@uk.ac.nhm (Janet)

Address: Dept. of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum,
                     Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD

Office Phone: 071-938-9006
Dept. FAX:  071-938-9277
----------------------------------------------------------------------------