6.0400 Electronic Pre-Print and Para-Print Databases (1/72)
Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Fri, 11 Dec 1992 10:24:34 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0400. Friday, 11 Dec 1992.
Date: Thu, 10 Dec 92 17:53:49 EST
From: jodonnel@sas.upenn.edu (James J. O'Donnell)
Subject: E-Preprint/Paraprint Initiative
ELECTRONIC PRE-PRINT and PARA-PRINT DATABASES:
an invitation to collaboration
Following a working group meeting earlier this year, a small
committee of researchers, librarians, and scholarly society
publishers has been laying groundwork to create a standard
interface and a common searching engine for independent databases
of scholarly and scientific `preprints'. These might comprise any
form of academic discourse not yet ready for `publication'. We
have labelled another category of publications 'paraprints,' works
which may exist in network databases alongside formally printed
counterparts.
There are already individual databases of either citations or
aritlces, in numerous fields, chiefly sciences, and in the
humanities many listserv discussion groups have collections of
scholarly papers available for list members on the listserver. The
purpose of the preprints initiative is to rationalize such forms of
distribution and make the material they contain as widely and
easily available as possible. Several specific initiatives are on
the point of coming on-line in the next weeks and months.
The preprint group is now broadening its initiative. FIRST, we are
inviting other parties with a serious interest -- i.e., those who
would be interested in actively participating in creating and
maintaining such databases as part of a loose consortium -- to join
the ongoing discussion as we formulate standards and discuss
practical issues of management and finance.
Appropriate participants in the expanded working group might
include (but would not be limited to)
-- representatives from learned societies
-- individuals from research libraries
-- university presses publishing journals
-- listowners maintaining adjunct files of scholarly articles
-- specialists in disciplines or subdisciplines with an interest in
and a commitment to enhancing the flow of information and
discussion.
Business of the group is conducted on a closed listserv list. To
express interest in joining the electronic working group, contact
Listowner: James J. O'Donnell, University of Pennsylvania, Classics
Department jodonnel@mail.sas.upenn.edu
SECOND, we are beginning a Preprints/Paraprints database
clearinghouse and invite your submissions and listings of such
enterprises. They will be maintained in a central file updated as
new information arrives. The descriptions will be detailed as to
type of files and access.
To add listings to the Clearinghouse files, contact: Ann Okerson,
Association of Research Libraries, ann@cni.org
THIS PROJECT IS CONDUCTED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF:
Association of Research Libraries (Washington, DC)
Office of Scientific & Academic Publishing
Ann L. Okerson
Center for Computer Analysis of Texts
University of Pennsylvania
James J. O'Donnell
American Mathematical Society
Mathematical Review
David L. Rodgers