Re: Author Publication Charge Debate

From: Suhail A. Rahman <sd2_at_GMX.NET>
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2004 13:49:40 +0100 (MET)

Stevan Harnad wrote:

> I must say that, despite all efforts, I find myself completely incapable
> of following the reasoning of Mr. Suhail:

I guess the problem is that we are all looking at different perspectives.
Maybe I need to spell out my sequence of reasoning and this follows. This will
be my last independant statement on the subject (limiting my future responses
mainly to responding to others opinion) as I believe too that enough has
been said and of course I would not want cloture to be invoked twice in this
thread.

1. We have a problem with accessing the scientific literature due to access
tolls that make it unreachable for all
2. To alleviate this problem the OA initiative says there are two roads:
self archiving & OA journals. Stevan Harnad strongly believes in self archiving
3. I embraced OA journals warmly in the early 2000's but ignore self
archiving for two reasons. a) It isnt needed if OA journals gain popular support.
b) We can meanwhile start by self archiving our articles at home
4. I find out that OA journals are not really toll free, they offer
different kinds of tolls. I am also afraid that these tolls may lead to a publishing
hegemony in the future.
5. I argue for a different kind of OA initiative whereby existing journals
find a mechanism to offer OA without the necessity for author tolls.
6. I give give one possible mechanism, which is embargoed TA for 1 year plus
author distribution of embargoed papers (already being done by JCEM).
7. Stevan finds this unacceptable, as self archiving is ignored entirely (as
we know it)
8. I defend ignoring self archiving because I still do not at all understand
how it would fit into my scheme of scientific publishing without tolls at
all - Neither author nor user.
9. Stevan takes the road that self archiving and OA publishing are two
independent things and hence we have no right to ignore self archiving.
10. I disagree simply because a prerequisite for self archiving is
publication in the first instance (unless Stevan is implying self archiving prior to
publication).
11. I conclude by asking Stevan if he believes that conventional self
archiving is either required or even viable in the *presence* of author tolled OA
journals, and if so, why?

Suhail
Received on Sat Feb 14 2004 - 12:49:40 GMT