Re: An Electronic Journal?

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"The scientific publishing tradition is a collection
>of practices and assumptions that have become part of the values and
>common sense of science. A central tenet of this tradition is
>publication only after careful and deliberate review by experts. ...

I don't see that this requirement places any real constraint on electronic
publishing.  Granted, with access to the Internet anyone can shove anything
out there for anyone to read.  But the same token, however, the electronic
format, by itself, imposed no requirement that the peer review process be
necessarily circumvented.



>Another tenet is that every published paper is a permanent member of
>the library of all scientific literature."

This just sounds too elitist to me.  What exactly is "the library of all
scientific literature?"  To me it sounds like a vacuous generality that can
mean whatever anyone wants it to mean.  Does a local European journal that
few American institutions subscribe to anymore count as a member in good
standing of this library?  I understand the need for a permanent archive.
I'm just not too comfortable with the idea of vesting the decision as to
what does and does not constitute such an archive with any one individual
group.  Palaios, Paleobiology, Historical Biology, etc. didn't have to
apply for permission to be created.  A group of people just got together
and did it.  Electronic paleo. journals will be created in the same way.
They will be successful if they fill a need that is not currently being met
by any other outlet.  If they are successful (e.g., if people send in good
mss and their colleagues read what the electronic journal is publishing)
these nominal problems will take care of themselves.  If they are not
successful no one will have to worry about any of this.


Norm MacLeod




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Norman MacLeod
Senior Scientific 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
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