In an article in the October 2009 Anthropology News, Oona Schmid discusses some of the serious issues surrounding the costs of journal publishing by the American Anthropological Association ("The Price of Free: An Invitation to Engage in the Future of the AAA's Publishing Program," Anthropology News, October 2009, pp. 19-20). If this is really an "invitation" to "engage you as readers" in discussion of this issue, one would think there would be a link to a website for online discussion. Oh well. This lack is symptomatic of the AAA's conservate and unimaginative approach to publications and open access. Two quick observations:
(1) If the AAA wants to distribute intellectual content without going broke, its journals should give up their print versions and move to an electonic-only format. The essence of academic journals is the peer review process. It is nice to have a nice old-fashioned book to hold in our grubby paws, but it is not really necessary to continue a scientific peer-reviewed publishing program. I didn't see anything in Schmid's column to suggest that the AAA might be considering such an option.
(2) One of the most effective ways the AAA could promote widespread distribution of peer-reviewed scholarship would be to set up an institutional repository for professional anthropological articles. This route of "Green Open Access" is the easiest and quickest way to establish open access of peer-reviewed scholarship (see my posts on Open Access, or anything written by Steven Harnad). This is a separate issue from journal finances, but it goes to the heart of the very reason scholars publish scholarly articles at all, and to the heart of the professional responsibilities of the AAA
5 comments:
I missed an irony in this paper: The title is: "The Price of Free: An Invitation to Engage in the Future of AAA's Publishing Program", but it was published in a Toll Access journal (Anthropology News). (This irony was mentioned in Peter Suber's OA blog).
publishingarchaeology.blogspot.com is very informative. The article is very professionally written. I enjoy reading publishingarchaeology.blogspot.com every day.
Could you clarify: you say "The essence of academic journals is the peer review process. It is nice to have a nice old-fashioned book to hold in our grubby paws, but it is not really necessary to continue a scientific peer-reviewed publishing program."
You seem to be saying simultaneously that peer review is crucial and dispensable. ...??
Please excuse my hasty prose, which I see now was confusing. Peer-review is absolutely essential for academic/scientific scholarship. This is what many consider to be the "essence" of professional scholarly journals. Having a printed copy of a journal, on the other hand, is not at all essential for the key aims of journals. Internet journals can have the former but not the latter and still fulfill the main role of scholarly journals. That was my point. I first heard this viewpoint expressed when Peter Suber spoke at a conference at SUNY-Albany several years ago. Anyone who is at all interested in journal publishing and open access should look at Suber's blog and publications.
Thanks for the clarification. Yes, I know S's work; he's clueless about why presses other than the multinationals behave as they do. I actually began reading your blog as an informed, pleasant alternative to his work, even though I think you and I disagree on many points. Your arguments are calmer, better informed, and not hysterical - very important in these difficult days.
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