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Well these are scientific articles and as such must be preserved, the cost of which must be paid for sooner rather than later. So it's not just the 'wire cost'
by JBorrow 5y ago
Well these are scientific articles and as such must be preserved, the cost of which must be paid for sooner rather than later. So it's not just the 'wire cost' of sending PDFs around, but the archival work too that needs to be paid for.
I also think that journals are too expensive, but that's why I only publish in society journals.
- DaiPlusPlus 5y ago> Well these are scientific articles and as such must be preserved What guarantees about preservation do journals give, though? (Hence my remark about papers being carved into rock)
- MaxBarraclough 5y agoI encountered this issue recently. I wanted to read an old paper of pretty narrow interest, published in a long-defunct journal. In its day, within the relevant small community, it was considered a quality paper by a respected author; it was not some obscure paper that no one ever read. It isn't officially available anywhere today. There's no invisible hand to save those old publications from being lost to time. Happily, with the help of strangers online, I was eventually (after many months) able to get my hands on an electronic copy. The formal system of publishers was of absolutely no use, and the fear of copyright trouble is likely the reason the paper isn't easily available from some online archive. Doubtless there's no profit in preserving such papers formally.