i have no doubt that many wish said policy changed for a wide range of
reasons that have been eloquently(albeit tediously and non-persuasively)
argued on these pages. I have substantial doubt that the policy needs to be
changed or that the world would somehow be better if it were changed. The
great values of electronic publishing can be realized without diminishing
quality by simply creating many fully electronic journals that are edited
professionally and follow the peer review process diligently and are made
available on the internet free of charge to all. Anyone who wishes to read
the information on a printed page can furnish their own paper. Some of you
presumably know that at www.medscape.com we have been doing this now for two
years with www.medgenmed.com and a developing family of eJournals that
complement our many other forms of electronic information, all made freely
available very rapidly to internet users. What the world does not
need(although i grant that it does already have it in many fields in and out
of science)is mass produced vanity epresses where anyone at all can be the
self-designated author, the editor, and the publisher, all at the same time,
and potentially fake the whole thing, to the possible detriment of mislead
readers. I have absolutely no interest in censoring the internet, even if
it were possible. But i believe readers of biomedical information have a
right to be able to reasonably trust at least some sources of such
information and be able to determine by label and reputation what has a good
chance of being trustworthy because the authors, peer reviewers, editors,
and publishers followed accepted time-tested rules.
george lundberg
-----Original Message-----
From: David Goodman [mailto:dgoodman_at_PRINCETON.EDU]
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2001 10:43 AM
To: AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG
Subject: Re: PostGutenberg Copyrights and Wrongs for Give-Away Research
This is a very clear statement of exactly the policy that Steve and so
many of us are urging be changed universally.
George Lundberg wrote:
>
> In the document entitled Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted
to
> Medical Journals published by the International Committee of Medical
> Journal Editors it is stated that "....electronic publication is
> publication....." Most such journals do not wish to consider for
> publication a paper that has already been published. Thus an author can
> choose the initial method of distribution of written work once only.
> george lundberg
--
David Goodman
Biology Librarian
and Co-chair, Electronic Journals Task force
Princeton University Library
Princeton, NJ 08544-0001
phone: 609-258-3235
fax: 609-258-2627
e-mail: dgoodman_at_princeton.edu
**********************************************************************
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they
are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify
the sender or call Medscape at 877-676-1597.
**********************************************************************
Received on Wed Jan 03 2001 - 19:17:43 GMT