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<font size=3>I agree--thinking of the revisions that I've had to think
through in my own submissions, and the revisions<br>
I've suggested to authors of submitted papers that I've reviewed.
Peer review sometimes distinguishes<br>
science from pseudoscience, as Johanna says, but much more often simply
improves the intellectual<br>
and scientific quality of papers. As much as we may like to think
we've perfected a position and presented<br>
it with excellent data and argumentation, self-evaluation can often be
deceptive.<br><br>
Dan Slobin<br><br>
At 08:57 AM 3/29/2010, Johanna Nichols wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Self-publishing bypasses peer
review, and peer review is a much more<br>
important function of journal publication than boosting careers is.
Peer<br>
review is so essential to distinguishing science from pseudoscience that
I<br>
don't think it should be bypassed, at least not very often.<br><br>
Johanna Nichols<br><br>
<br>
dlevere@ILSTU.EDU wrote:<br>
> I agree with most of what Martin says. However, I don't think that
if<br>
> senior scholars self-publish this puts junior scholars at a<br>
> disadvantage. In fact, I would think the opposite. It frees up
journal<br>
> space for them. I think that selective journals are crucial for
the<br>
> careers of junior scholars. And if senior scholars need the
'credit'<br>
> in some sort of evaluative process, e.g. the UK's RAE or some
such,<br>
> then publication in a selective journal is always preferred. But
for<br>
> well-established scholars who want to make interesting work
available<br>
> but aren't worried about impressing review committees, I think<br>
> self-publishing is a useful option.<br>
><br>
> I certainly do not understand what the hesitation would be to use
and<br>
> cite such materials. (In fact, you can publish any monograph on<br>
> Amazon.com and charge for downloads if you'd prefer. I don't
recall<br>
> seeing a linguistic monograph published in this way, but other<br>
> disciplines, most notably philosophy, seem to do this from time
to<br>
> time.)<br>
><br>
> Dan<br>
><br>
><br>
> Quoting Martin Haspelmath <haspelmath@EVA.MPG.DE>:<br>
><br>
>> Since increasingly, even papers from "print journals"
are printed out<br>
>> rather than retrieved from a library in paper form, the
difference is<br>
>> now mainly between journals with page number restrictions and
journals<br>
>> without page number restrictions. The latter are obviously
preferable<br>
>> (in typology, we have one so far:<br>
>>
<a href="http://linguistic-discovery.dartmouth.edu/" eudora="autourl">
http://linguistic-discovery.dartmouth.edu/</a>).<br>
>><br>
>> It seems to me that the future of linguistics lies in
abandoning<br>
>> monograph publication, and shifting to journal-only
publication.<br>
>> Increasingly, as linguists compete for resources with other<br>
>> disciplines, journal publication is seen as counting more. (In
fact, it<br>
>> may make sense to go as far as relabeling entire book series
as<br>
>> journals, to help evaluators and funding agencies see
linguistics as<br>
>> what it is, a respectable science.)<br>
>><br>
>> Martin<br>
>><br>
>> P.S. I wouldn't recommend the "self-publishing"
strategy suggested by<br>
>> Dan Everett as an option. As he notes, this is not available to
junior<br>
>> scholars, so if it became acceptable, it would put them at
a<br>
>> disadvantage. I think we should not cite unpublished work that
isn't<br>
>> evidently intended for regular publication.<br>
>><br>
>> dlevere@ILSTU.EDU wrote:<br>
>>> Dear Wolfgang,<br>
>>><br>
>>> It seems to me that work that doesn't quite fit an
established<br>
>>> print journal or monograph series ought either to be
submitted to<br>
>>> an electronic journal or simply posted on one's webpage with
a<br>
>>> notice to the relevant list, at least for senior scholars
such as<br>
>>> yourself.<br>
>>><br>
>>> Most of the people who would read and benefit from your
research<br>
>>> report are readers of this list and Funknet, and some
on<br>
>>> LinguistList who don't read these two lists. In fact, by
making<br>
>>> your work available to your colleagues by this announcement
and<br>
>>> your webpage, you have probably already ensured that your
paper<br>
>>> will be read by more people than most print outlets.<br>
>>><br>
>>> I look forward to reading the work from your website.<br>
>>><br>
>>> Others might have different opinions about publication, of
course.<br>
>>> But that is my view.<br>
>>><br>
>>> Dan<br>
>>><br>
>>> Quoting Wolfgang Schulze
<W.Schulze@LRZ.UNI-MUENCHEN.DE>:<br>
>>><br>
>>>> Dear friends and colleagues<br>
>>>> please allow me making a perhaps somewhat unusual post.
But maybe you<br>
>>>> can help me or give me some advise. I have produced an
admittedly<br>
>>>> lengthy paper on the *grammaticalization of
antipassives* in terms of<br>
>>>> split aspects systems, dealing mainly with Sumerian,
Kartvelian, and<br>
>>>> Proto-Indo-European, but including data from other
languages, too. You<br>
>>>> can download the first draft (attention: not yet
proof-read by an<br>
>>>> native speaker of English!) from<br>
>>>>
<a href="http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/antipass.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/antipass.pdf</a> . My problem is
that<br>
>>>> I really don't know what to do with this paper. It is
too long for<br>
>>>> submission to a journal (79 pages), and too short for
producing a<br>
>>>> (slender) monography. Any suggestions (if ever you can
imagine that<br>
>>>> the<br>
>>>> contents are of relevance for our community)? In
addition, I would be<br>
>>>> happy to receive critics and other comments all of which
would<br>
>>>> undoubtedly help to improve the quality of the
analyses.<br>
>>>> Many thanks in advance and best wishes,<br>
>>>> Wolfgang<br>
>>>> --<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> --<br>
>>>><br>
>>>> *Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulze *<br>
>>>><br>
>>>><br>
>>>><br>
>>><br>
>>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> --<br>
>> Martin Haspelmath (haspelmath@eva.mpg.de)<br>
>> Max-Planck-Institut fuer evolutionaere Anthropologie, Deutscher
Platz 6<br>
>> D-04103 Leipzig Tel. (MPI)
+49-341-3550 307, (priv.) +49-341-980<br>
>> 1616<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> --------------------------------------------------------------<br>
> This message was sent using Illinois State University Webmail.<br>
></font></blockquote>
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<font size=2><br>
******************************************************************************************************************************<br>
</font><font size=3>Dan I. Slobin, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and
Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley<br>
</font><font size=2><i>
address:
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slobin@berkeley.edu<br>
2323 Rose St.
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</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab><i>phone
(home):</i>
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Berkeley, CA 94708,
USA
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<a href="http://psychology.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/dslobin.html">
http://psychology.berkeley.edu/faculty/profiles/dslobin.html</a><br>
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