Pauline, the response doesn't address our final suggestion: that AGU number
its publishable units, the articles, if they cannot do sequential
pagination. We put that in specifically to head off the statement that AGU
cannot do sequential pagaination, even though every one else can do
sequential pagination. If AGU numbered articles, we could avoid using the
DOI as the citation and just cite (for example) 95(C2):Article 5, 10p.
............or something similar. We didn't work out any specific advice
for article numbering and how to cite them, because there should be a
broader input on that.
Finally, if they can put them up online which is a sequential process, they
can assign sequential page numbers to them, and stick to those..... but what
do I know. Since everyone else is capable of assigning sequential page
numbers, I am unconvinced of a claim to be inable to assign sequential page
numbers ..........Peter.
=============================================================
Peter Brueggeman, Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library
UCSD, 9500 Gilman Dr, Dept 0219, San Diego CA 92093-0219 USA
pbrueggeman@ucsd.edu Tel 858/534-1230 Fax 858/534-5269
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pauline Simpson" <ps@soc.soton.ac.uk>
To: "Peter Brueggeman" <pbrueggeman@ucsd.edu>
Cc: <iamslic@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 1:29 AM
Subject: [IAMSLIC:1861] Re: letter to: AGU, fr: 3 @ Scripps Inst
Oceanography, re: DOI citation
> Excellent Peter. I had put this point to Jon Sears and his answer is
below.
>
> Disregarding AGU recommendation we are continuing to include the page
> number in our citation, but of course can only do that whilst we still
take
> the print version as well. We are using the following format but agree
> with you that inputting the DOI is prime candidate for human error.
>
> SEARS, J. 2002 Title
> Journal of Geophysical Research, 107(DI), EPA10.1 - 10.6. (DOI
> 10.240000000000).
>
> I note that ASFA is putting the DOI after the title? Pauline
>
> JON'S REPLY :
>
> "the reasons behind the new recommended citation format
> stem from the fact that articles are now published online "as ready",
> and therefore need to be citeable immediately -- when print pagination
> may not be finalized. AGU's policy is that the online article is the
> document of record, as you may know.
>
> We have heard some concerns over the lack of pagination in
> the citation, but we feel that the DOI is the better approach.
> We realize that the lack of pagination in a citation makes it a bit
> more complicated to locate an article in the printed issue, but the
> citation does include the volume and issue, and there is a DOI index
> in each issue to help locate a specific article.
>
> Also we have added an online DOI Resolver to help users to obtain
> a "standard" citation, including pagination, which you can find at
> http://agu.org/pubs/doifind.html. It is updated daily, as new articles
> are published.
>
> You may have noted that the 2002 JGR article pagination is not now
> simply continuous, but reflects the order in the issue, or special
> section
> or subset if applicable. More information is available onine:
> http://www.agu.org/pubs/e_publishing/
> (Scroll down to "Some Ways Electronic Publishing Will Be Different")
>
>
>
>
> At 15:00 25/04/02 -0700, you wrote:
>
> >25 April 2002
> >
> >To: Marcia McNutt, AGU President
> >From: Ralph Keeling, Jeff Severinghaus, Peter Brueggeman
> >CC: AGU Executive Committee, AGU Publications Committee
> >
> >Dear Marcia,
> >
> >It has recently come to our attention that, in its move towards online
> >publishing, AGU has done away with sequential page numbering of journal
> >articles
> >as of January 2002. Instead, AGU is requiring articles to be cited based
on a
> >20-digit character string (e.g. 10.1029/2001JA001490), known as a digital
> >object
> >identifier (DOI), and disallowing current scientific practice wherein
articles
> >are cited by volume, issue, and page numbers.
> >
> >The cited benefits of AGU's new system include the ability to improve
online
> >access, the flexibility to submit videos or other multi-media materials
as
> >part
> >of an article, and the ability to provide electronic links to other
> >articles or
> >pieces. The impression given by the AGU web page
> >(http://www.agu.org/pubs/e_publishing/) is that the elimination of
sequential
> >page numbering of journal articles was necessary to provide these
benefits.
> >
> >In a search of current publishing practice, however, we have come up with
a
> >short, admittedly incomplete, list of commercial publishers and
professional
> >societies who continue to use sequential page numbering of journal
articles in
> >their transition to online publishing: American Meteorological Society,
> >American Chemical Society, American Fisheries Society, Nature, Science,
> >American
> >Institute of Physics, Elsevier, Company of Biologists, Royal Society of
> >Chemistry, University of Chicago Press, Geological Society of America,
Kluwer,
> >Springer Verlag, Cambridge University Press. Many of these consider
their
> >ejournal to be the archival record, and provide active links via an HTML
> >version. We were unable to find a single example, besides AGU, of a
> >scientific
> >publisher abandoning sequential page numbering of journal articles in the
> >transition to online publishing. We also checked with the Director of
the
> >Science & Engineering Library at UCSD, who was also unable to cite any
> >publisher
> >following AGU practice. Although examples might still be found, it is
clear
> >that AGU's practice is out of step with general trends in online
publishing.
> >
> >As an emerging industry standard, the DOI clearly fulfills an essential
> >need in
> >electronic publishing, by providing an alternative to the awkward
practice of
> >referring to (unstable) web addresses. Nevertheless, the way the DOI is
being
> >implemented by AGU, as the unique identifier of scientific articles for
> >citation
> >purposes, is apparently highly eccentric.
> >
> >Unfortunately, AGU's decision to eliminate sequential page numbering of
> >journal
> >articles and to force citations to be based solely on the DOI comes at a
high
> >cost:
> >
> >(1) The use of the DOI for citations creates problems in compatibility.
It is
> >annoying and troublesome to have two different filing or organizational
> >systems
> >in use concurrently in science: AGU and everybody else. It appears that
all
> >science ejournal publishers except AGU refer to their publishable units,
the
> >article, by volume, issue, and pagination. Although the community that
> >commonly
> >cites AGU journals may be able to adapt, problems will remain for the
wider
> >community that doesn't understand the AGU system and doesn't want to be
> >bothered. Some may assume that AGU publications are "grey" literature or
> >still
> >"in press", since their citations look non-standard among scientific
> >publications. It's naive to assume that AGU's unique system will ever be
> >transparent to the scientific community at large. Many institutions'
> >libraries
> >will continue to subscribe to AGU journals in print for reasons of
> >economy; the
> >DOI is awkward for anyone accessing print collections in libraries.
> >
> >(2) The DOI carries no information about article length, which is
valuable for
> >many obvious reasons.
> >
> >(3) Citation based on the DOI takes up extra print space. Less than 20
> >characters are typically required for indicating volume number and page
range
> >(e.g. "24, 1654-1675" entails 13 characters). The extra length of the
DOI may
> >cause the citation to spill over onto a new line, thus taking up even
more
> >space. The difference is probably not trivial for high-profile journals
like
> >Science and Nature, where space is at a premium.
> >
> >(4) The DOI strings are likely prone to transcription error because, with
so
> >many characters in an unbroken string, they are hard to scan by eye. We
don't
> >live in a perfect copy-and-paste world, and a significant percentage of
people
> >will be typing in these DOIs.
> >
> >In summary, the decision to eliminate sequential page numbering of
journal
> >articles in favor of the DOI has created many problems for AGU readers
and
> >authors. One might be tempted to argue that these are problems of
transition
> >which will be reduced once people adapt to the new system. In fact,
every one
> >of the problems listed above will present a continuing difficulty, which
will
> >only be lessened if the entire scientific journal publishing enterprise
> >changes
> >the way it cites articles to AGU's unique approach.
> >
> >We therefore request that the decision at AGU to eliminate sequential
page
> >numbering and to require use of the DOI for citation purposes be
> >revisited. The
> >collective practices of scientific publishers show that sequential page
> >numbering for journal/articles is possible in an online world. If, for
some
> >reason, AGU finds sequential page numbering to be difficult, a
user-friendly
> >scheme co-existing with the DOI could be developed in which various
> >methods/terms are used to identify and number journal articles within
> >volumes/issues without the usage of sequential pagination, like
fascicules,
> >parts, etc. In all likelihood, an acceptable scheme exists which entails
only
> >minor changes to the present AGU production process.
> >
> >Sincerely,
> >
> >Ralph Keeling
> >Assoc. Prof., Scripps Institution of Oceanography
> >
> >Jeff Severinghaus
> >Assoc. Prof., Scripps Institution of Oceanography
> >
> >Peter Brueggeman
> >Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library
> >
> >=============================================================
> >Peter Brueggeman, Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library
> >UCSD, 9500 Gilman Dr, Dept 0219, San Diego CA 92093-0219 USA
> >pbrueggeman@ucsd.edu Tel 858/534-1230 Fax 858/534-5269
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
---- > Pauline Simpson, Head of Information Services > Southampton Oceanography Centre > University of Southampton Waterfront Campus, European Way, > Southampton, SO14 3ZH, England > > Tel: 44-(0)23 8059 6111: Fax 44-(0)23 8059 6115 > email: ps@soc.soton.ac.uk ; ps2@soton.ac.uk > Web : http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Apr 26 2002 - 07:20:59 PDT