Re: Eprint versions and removals

From: Stevan Harnad <harnad_at_ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 22:03:10 +0000

On Mon, 13 Dec 2004, David Goodman wrote:

> > How do I know that the self-archived version I am looking at is the same
> > as the "official" version
>
> You have no guarantee except the integrity of the author and the
> alertness of the users.

Correct. And I might add that you also have the official version to check
it against, if you can afford it. It cannot be repeated enough that the
self-archived version is intended as a supplement for all those would-be
users who cannot afford access to the official version. Hence without
the self-archived version, they have no access at all. That should go
some way toward putting this worry about versions into context. The
rest is down to scholarliness, on the part of the self-archiving author
and OA users. As OA grows, so will scholarly sophistication in providing
and using it.

Stevan Harnad
Received on Tue Dec 14 2004 - 22:03:10 GMT