Re: Eprint versions and removals

From: Stevan Harnad <harnad_at_ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 14:03:15 +0000

As this topic (multiple versions) has been much-discussed in the Forum
in the past, and as it already has three FAQs, I am prepending the URLs
for the FAQs and prior postings:

FAQs:
    http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/self-faq/#2.Authentication
    http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/self-faq/#3.Corruption
    http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/self-faq/#23.Version

Some Prior AmSci postings:

    http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/0856.html
    http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/2766.html
    http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/2778.html
    http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/4210.html
    http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/4257.html
    http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/4720.html

Bottom line:

    (1) OAI and IR software allows version control

    (2) Access to author's self-corrected final draft (postprint) is
    infinitely prefereable to no access at all

    (3) All this is a supplement, existing in parallel, with the
    publisher's official published version of record

If you don't self-archive your postprints, you decree that you only
want your work used and cited by those whose institutions can afford to
subscribe to the journal publisher's proprietary version. You thereby
forfeit a substantial proportion of your potential research impact.

Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 08:34:15 -0500
From: "Alvin Hutchinson" <HUTCHINSONA_at_si.edu>
To: <AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG>
Subject: Scientists' Reluctance to Make Post-Print Available

I wonder if anyone has run into resistance by scientists to post the final
(but unpublished) manuscript version of their work on an institutional
repository. I have noticed one or more people expressing reluctance to
distribute what they call an 'unofficial' version of the paper by posting it
publicly. Incidentally, I don't think this sentiment is related to any fear
of antagonizing the ultimate publisher of the paper.

Has anyone else heard this from scientist-authors?

We're building a repository and I will encourage post-prints where
available, but I want to anticipate and meet any apprehension with a cogent
argument as to why it is a good idea.

Thanks in advance,

Alvin Hutchinson
Smithsonian Institution Libraries
202.633.1031
Received on Wed Mar 15 2006 - 16:16:57 GMT