RE: Non-Discoverability or Non-Existence?

From: John Smith <J.W.T.Smith_at_kent.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:32:31 +0100

Stevan,

> What was proposed was not for journals to disappear, but for
> supplementary copies of their articles to appear -- by being
> deposited in institutional repositories. That's what's needed (not
> 'overlay/virtual journals' -- whatever that means).
>
> Stevan Harnad

I agree 100% with you re getting every research output (not just journal articles) into repositories, and I commend you for devoting so much of your considerable energy into bringing this about.

But for me that is not the end, it is just the beginning. These full repositories will form a part of a publishing model that will replace the traditional journal. Just like evolution in the biological environment evolution in the academic publishing environment never stops, there is no perfect form only the one that best fits the current environment. In the current networked publishing environment a distributed model of publishing like the one I have described elsewhere is a better fit and will prevail over the less flexible more centralised model of the traditional journal.

I also believe (but with a little less certainty) that 'overlay or virtual journals' (I'm sure you know what I mean) will form part of the new model.

Regards,

John Smith,
University of Kent, UK.
Received on Tue Jul 24 2007 - 11:33:25 BST