[Lingtyp] papercopy LT

[Martin Haspelmath]

On 04.07.17 19:36, Wu Jianming wrote:
> Dear colleagues,
> ...
>       I am wondering whether there is another way to spread good ideas 
> freely and efficiently, which, nontheless, is equally recognized by 
> the authority, just like journals.

Good ideas (or bad ideas) can be published easily these days (e.g. you 
can easily upload your paper to Academia or Zenodo 
<https://www.frank-m-richter.de/freescienceblog/2017/02/24/what-should-what-do-i-do-with-my-draft-paper-hide-it-upload-to-academia-or-upload-to-zenodo/>, 
at no cost), but for professional recognition, one needs a 
well-organized social mechanism.

Scholars have not been well-organized in the past: As Stephen Buranyi 
explains in a fascinating recent Guardian article 
<https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/27/profitable-business-scientific-publishing-bad-for-science>, 
over decades they left the initiative to commercial companies, who own 
the titles and who make huge profits (or waste our money because of 
inefficient organization). If standard business criteria were employed, 
then publishing a scholarly article would cost between $100 and $500 
<http://bjoern.brembs.net/2016/12/should-public-institutions-not-be-choosing-the-lowest-responsible-bidder/>, 
not $5000 as is currently the case.

So how do we get out of the current predicament? I don't know, but we 
first need to recognize that we are in a disastrous situation.

Maybe we could have a typology journal that is published with a model 
similar to that of Glossa (with optional fees, supported by OLH 
<https://www.openlibhums.org/journals/>). Maybe we could find a 
university that gives "tenure 
<https://www.frank-m-richter.de/freescienceblog/2017/02/21/we-dont-need-open-access-but-scholar-owned-publication-brands/>" 
to a typology journal, the way most universities give tenure to 
researchers. Any ALT members out there with connections to librarians 
who want to secure their future by moving into publishing?

In any event, using ALT's money for "publication" (in fact, 
un-publication) behind a paywall is not sustainable in the longer run, 
so we desperately need new good ideas.

Best,
Martin

-- 
Martin Haspelmath (haspelmath at shh.mpg.de)
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10	
D-07745 Jena
&
Leipzig University
IPF 141199
Nikolaistrasse 6-10
D-04109 Leipzig





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