Re: [PIUG List] Early publication - comments?

Thanks to those who commented on the list or privately. Several people
have pointed out that the full text of the requirement is written such
that the authors have to *submit* their articles as soon as approved,
but this does not necessarily mean that they will be loaded onto PubMed
Central immediately. There is a built-in waiting time, which should
mean that a reproducible citation will be issued before loading onto
PMC. Other comments have also been helpful to see - I agree largely
with James that this is not a totally new phenomenon, but merely
exacerbated by the migration to electronic forms. There has always been
the risk of poorly-controlled early versions of publications leaking out
too early, or un-cleared information being discussed at conferences etc.

In response to James' enquiry about building a database of such items,
it's an interesting idea but I think if the resource is there to do
anything, it should be more helpfully employed in collating and
improving access to some of the grey literature that we already know to
be a problem. I would characterise this as "semi-regulated" rather than
"accidental disclosure"; items such as trade literature, product
leaflets, brochures, annual reports, individual papers from conferences,
government agency publications etc. etc. Some of these have got
dedicated NPL databases already in outline form, or even older
information products (such as the original Dialog file 6 NTIS), but I am
unconvinced that they are anywhere near comprehensive. Different
industry sectors will be aware of their own blind-spots to some extent -
vide all the efforts on traditional medicine aimed at collecting more
obscure NPL in the pharms area.

Stephen

--
Stephen Adams
Magister Ltd.
Crown House, 231 Kings Road, Reading, RG1 4LS, GB
Tel: +44 (0)118 966 6520
Fax: +44 (0)118 966 6620
E-mail: stevea_at_magister.co.uk (replace _at_ by @ to use)
Website : http://www.magister.co.uk

Registered in England and Wales. Company No. 3407685


-------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
PIUG List owner: Patent Information Users' Group Inc. (R), http://
www.piug.org
PIUG List rules and guidelines: http://www.piug.org/list.php
PIUG List admin: piug_discussion_list-owner(at)v2(dot)listbox(dot)com
PIUG Discussion List @ Listbox

Received on Thu Jan 24 2008 - 13:51:01