[Coral-List] NYT Article on "Predatory Open-Access Journals"

Wed Apr 24 12:31:44 EDT 2013

Ulf, as a citizen of Sweden, member of the EU like the Kingdom of the Netherlands of which I am a citizen, you must be aware of the fact that the EU espouses open science which includes "citizen science" in its upcoming Horizon 2020 research funding program.

Open science entails open source, open access and collaborative (research) networks. In this wider setting librarians are going to have a hard time.

Traditional peer-reviewed science journals, conferences etc. are well equipped through knowledgeable librarians to deal with the issues at hand.

What the Green Economy the UN heralds as the stepping stone for sustainable development with job creation in new areas will require a more open society and thus open science.

As a member of seven global federated networks of organizations each dealing with different areas of sustainable development I have found that it becomes increasingly hard to determine what good science is whether in a more traditional setting or a more open.

I am a mathematician by training and in my own disciple there are now over 300 specialized fields and we as one of the few disciplines actually have a Map of Mathematics to make sense of our own backyard.

The point I am trying to make is that by virtue of what constitutes good science in general a good scientist focuses on one or more areas of specific research, given his/her skills, talents, and available resources and backing.

The Internet is an enabling technology for open science, but it begs the question, how do we go from the traditional setting to the open science setting, changing nothing in the traditional, yet incorporating these new players and areas of non-traditional research?

In Sweden and many EU member countries libraries and librarians are well equipped to deal with the job, the rest of the world is not so fortunate and that is where these predatory open access journals try to find a foothold.

I only have to bring up the issue of what constitutes good science for the global climate change debate to make my point.

I have posted the discussion about predatory open access journals in other lists, e.g. for the World Wide Web Consortium for Semantic web technologies, which deals with stuff like Dublin Core Meta Data standards, linked data, big data and themes known to knowledgeable librarians and what I have found so far is that the NY Times article has scratched the surface of a subject not yet fully on the radar of scientists in general as important.

One of my areas of interest and expertise is ICT as enabling technologies for research networks, research in general and open science with the Internet and related technologies as indispensable.

The Internet holds great potential for improving the field of practice of science, but is has challenges we need to address, and IMHO the NY Times correctly signaled one of these challenges.

Milton Ponson, President
Rainbow Warriors Core Foundation
(Rainbow Warriors International)
Tel. +297 568 5908
PO Box 1154, Oranjestad 
Aruba, Dutch Caribbean 
Email: southern_caribbean at yahoo.com
http://www.rainbowwarriors.net

To unite humanity in a global society dedicated to a sustainable way of life

________________________________
 From: Ulf Erlingsson <ceo at lindorm.com>
To: RainbowWarriorsInternational <southern_caribbean at yahoo.com> 
Cc: Linda Pikula - NOAA Federal <linda.pikula at noaa.gov>; Derek Alexander Soto Rodriguez <dereksoto at gmail.com>; "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> 
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 8:02 AM
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] NYT Article on "Predatory Open-Access Journals"

Milton, here I just have to express my dissenting opinion, as a scientist. Librarians (at least in my country, Sweden) are very well educated, they are recruited from PhDs and other (real) doctors (not MDs or JDs), and then they get significant additional education. And this kind of stuff is what they are there for. Researchers and scientists can't do everything by themselves, that is why there are supporting staff positions, from engineers to librarians to secretaries to boat crews. And at my department, one person exclusively managing the maps. God bless them all.

Ulf Erlingsson, Ph.D.
President and CEO
Lindorm, Inc.
http://lindorm.com

On 2013-04-23, at 13:43, RainbowWarriorsInternational wrote:

Yes, I did see that loud and clear. But I have talked at length with some librarians I know at US Universities exactly about publishers of journals and I do not think it is fair that librarians should be doing the dirty work for scientists and researchers all by themselves.
>
>
> 
>Milton Ponson, President
>Rainbow Warriors Core Foundation
>(Rainbow Warriors International)
>Tel. +297 568 5908
>PO Box 1154, Oranjestad 
>Aruba, Dutch Caribbean 
>Email: southern_caribbean at yahoo.com
>http://www.rainbowwarriors.net
>
>To unite humanity in a global society dedicated to a sustainable way of life
>
>
>________________________________
>From: Linda Pikula - NOAA Federal <linda.pikula at noaa.gov>
>To: RainbowWarriorsInternational <southern_caribbean at yahoo.com> 
>Cc: Derek Alexander Soto Rodriguez <dereksoto at gmail.com>; "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa..gov> 
>Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2013 10:12 AM
>Subject: Re: [Coral-List] NYT Article on "Predatory Open-Access Journals"
>
>
>
>Dear Milton,
>
>If you read the NY Times article you will see that a Librarian, Jeffrey Beall at the University of Colorado, Denver has prepared an extensive list of predatory journals.
>
>Linda Pikula
>
>
>On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 11:51 PM, RainbowWarriorsInternational <southern_caribbean at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>Derek,
>
>
>>
>This is a problem which manifests itself in every discipline and it preys on basic human needs for recognition. The current publishing world of academia itself is to blame partially.
>>
>
>>
>Because in each field of science scientists and researchers usually have a short list of peer-reviewed journals and conferences in their mental narrow focus, only librarians typically have a (often not much) better overview of available reputable journals and conferences in respective fields.
>>
>
>>
>It is high time for a global registry of scientific publishers and their respective journals and a form of rating and grading them.
>>
>
>>
>
>>
> 
>>
>Milton Ponson, President
>>
>Rainbow Warriors Core Foundation
>>
>(Rainbow Warriors International)
>>
>Tel. +297 568 5908
>>
>PO Box 1154, Oranjestad
>>
>Aruba, Dutch Caribbean
>>
>Email: southern_caribbean at yahoo.com
>>
>http://www.rainbowwarriors..net
>>
>
>>
>To unite humanity in a global society dedicated to a sustainable way of life
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>________________________________
>>
> From: Derek Alexander Soto Rodriguez <dereksoto at gmail.com>
>>
>To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>>
>Sent: Monday, April 8, 2013 10:56 AM
>>
>Subject: [Coral-List] NYT Article on "Predatory Open-Access Journals"
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>I want to share an article from the New York Times on so called
>>
>pseudo-scientific journals and conferences and would like to hear opinions
>>
>from other members of the community.
>>
>
>>
>http://nyti.ms/17mHk0Y
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>Cheers!
>>
>--
>>
>*Derek A. Soto Rodriguez*
>>
>*Master's Candidate*
>>
>*Coral Biology and Ecology Laboratory
>>
>Department of Marine Sciences*
>>
>*University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus
>>
>Call Box 9000, Mayagüez, PR 00681
>>
>
>>
>Tel: 1-787-899-2048 ext. 272 (Lab)
>>
>Fax: 1-787-899-5500*
>>
>_______________________________________________
>>
>Coral-List mailing list
>>
>Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>>
>http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>>
>_______________________________________________
>>
>Coral-List mailing list
>>
>Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>>
>http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>>
>
>>
>
>-- 
>Linda Pikula
>NOAA Regional Librarian
>Library Director Miami Regional Library AOML/NHC
>4301 Rickenbacker CSWY
>Miami, Fl.33133
>305-361-4429
>305-361-4552
>_______________________________________________
>Coral-List mailing list
>Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
>