The Ingelfinger rule is not a rule or law but a policy of some publishers
as of 1969, that is of the time referee first, publish/distribute then.
With the online age the authors should serve the scientific progress as
best they can. That is publish/distribute first, using their own/their
institution's server, see for an example in physics
http://physnet.physik.uni-oldenburg.de/PhysNet/physdoc.html
and thus open the discussion with colleagues, allow vetting,
annotations, peer refereeing.
The only rule is the copyright rule called 'author's rights' in german
law:
Every author should clearly pin down his will as part of any document.
Peer reviewing of a publisher is an add on service and needs honour and
protection: that is distributing reviewed documents in the form including
the changes as complying with the referees needs to refer to where the
information came from, that is citing the source at the publisher.
Recommended is the the 'ten-page checklist for authors by Wilfrid Hodges,
http://www.maths.qmw.ac.uk/~wilfrid/copyright.html
A collection of other sources with regard to copyright may be found at
http://elfikom.physik.uni-oldenburg.de/bmbf/copyright.html
Yours E. R. Hilf
Received on Wed Jan 03 2001 - 19:17:43 GMT