tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post114139989233390693..comments2024-03-18T23:13:09.570-05:00Comments on Computational Complexity: Elsevier and TCSLance Fortnowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06752030912874378610noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-1141974399067259152006-03-10T01:06:00.000-06:002006-03-10T01:06:00.000-06:00I came to this discussion late, but it's one that ...I came to this discussion late, but it's one that I am very passionate about. I have two comments, but they are about scientific publishing in general rather than the specific case of Elsevier or TCS.<BR/><BR/>1. what monetary costs are people referring to in producing an electronic journal? Has anyone written an analysis of what it costs to sustain an electronic journal? Note that I said a *journal*, not what it costs to maintain a staff for a society that backs a journal. <BR/><BR/>2. I fully support the decision of a referee to refuse to referee for Elsevier. In my opinion commercial publishers have largely outlived their usefulness for publication of scholarly journals in computer science, and the direction to online subscriptions is detrimental to the health of science. It's time to start saying no to participating in the scam. That doesn't mean that we should stop refereeing - that is an absolute requirement for participation in the scientific process. It means that some of us will give our support by refereeing for journals that we feel are serving the field well. As a result, these journals will receive better service in refereeing, resulting in more timely and quality publication, and in the long run it means that they will overtake the more costly commercial journals.Alvin Anonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15268049341572923471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-1141837984890143172006-03-08T11:13:00.000-06:002006-03-08T11:13:00.000-06:00I can only say that SICOMP is of not much relevanc...<I>I can only say that SICOMP is of not much relevance to the scope of TCS-B, which is "my" bit of TCS</I><BR/><BR/>You are certainly right that Theory-B topics (named after volume B of the Handbook of Theoretical Computer Science) are not covered by SICOMP. What would you say are the main competitors for TCS-B in covering Theory-B topics? I can think of one relatively new society-published journal covering Theory-B topics: ACM Transactions on Computational Logic (ACM TOCL).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-1141773740719597152006-03-07T17:22:00.000-06:002006-03-07T17:22:00.000-06:00"Thinking about things as price per page is exactl...<I>"Thinking about things as price per page is exactly the problem.": I agree that price per page figures have to be taken with a grain of salt, but I don't know a better metric for making comparisons. Do you?</I><BR/><BR/>Here is one metric that may have some faults but is at least a start: <BR/><BR/>I checked the last couple of years of TCS versus SIAM Journal on Computing on the ISI Journal Citation Reports website.<BR/><BR/>In 2003 and 2004 TCS had only 10% more total citations of its articles than SICOMP did despite having between 6 and 7 times the number of articles! <BR/><BR/><I> But it is also very large, with 12000 pages published per year.</I><BR/><BR/><I>... for SIAM Journal of Computing the figure is $0.27/page versus $0.42/page for TCS. Looks like the same ballpark to me.</I> <BR/><BR/>OK, so if the value of a journal is represented by how many times people cite its articles then we can make a comparison that is more meaningful. SICOMP is publishing between 1,500 and 2,000 pages per year versus the 12,000 that TCS publishes. Using the 50% higher per page cost of TCS, this conservatively makes TCS <B>9 times as expensive in total for only 10% more value</B>.<BR/><BR/>While I not saying that citations are the only indication of the worth of a journal I think this makes it clear that price per page is a very poor metric.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-1141482480302841932006-03-04T08:28:00.000-06:002006-03-04T08:28:00.000-06:00Six things that researchers need to know about ope...Six things that researchers need to know about open access: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/02-02-06.htm#knowAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-1141482190179998502006-03-04T08:23:00.000-06:002006-03-04T08:23:00.000-06:00In general, you should not believe a single word y...In general, you should not believe a single word you hear from Elsevier about is pricing. They have mastered the art of distorting the facts to obscure the truth.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com