----- Original Message -----
From: "George M. Hornberger" <gmh3k@cms.mail.virginia.edu>
To: "Ralph Keeling" <rkeeling@ucsd.edu>; "Jeff Severinghaus"
<jseveringhaus@ucsd.edu>; "Peter Brueggeman" <pbrueggeman@ucsd.edu>
Cc: <mcnutt@mbari.org>; <jorcutt@igpp.ucsd.edu>; <robted@eas.gatech.edu>; <"Pubs
Com Dist pubscom_d"@agu.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2002 1:58 PM
Subject: Sequential pagination in AGU Journals
: 8 May 2002
:
: Ralph Keeling
: Jeff Severinghaus
: Peter Brueggeman
: Scripps Institute Of Oceanography
:
: Dear Drs. Keeling, Severinghaus, and Brueggeman
:
: Thank you for copying me on your recent note to Marcia
: McNutt inquiring about the decision of AGU to forego
: sequential page numbers in our journals. Although the
: Publications Committee did not meet subsequent to receipt
: of your e-mail, I have been in contact with the members and
: with staff at headquarters regarding the points you make
: and the questions you raise. After carefully thinking about
: the issues once more, we remain convinced that the course
: charted by AGU is correct.
:
: As noted in the excellent article by Sam Bowring that you
: cite (i.e., http://www.agu.org/pubs/e_publishing/), AGU has
: declared the electronic version to be the journal of
: record. The html is the online representation of the
: journal of record. AGU did this so that nonprintable
: material would be an integral part of the record of science
: and not simply supplementary to it. Even though other
: publishers are including nonprintable material on their web
: sites, it is not a part of the formal record so long as
: their print version is the journal of record.
:
: The view expressed in your note is that AGU's use of the
: Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is "highly eccentric" and
: "out of step with general trends in on-line publishing".
: Our alternative view is that AGU has taken a bold step
: ahead of almost everyone else. The society publications to
: which you refer in your note have not declared their
: electronic journals to be the journals of record. Archiving
: the electronic files is a far different thing than
: declaring a change in the journal of record. We have been
: told by one society on your list that when they do take the
: step of declaring the electronic version to be the record,
: they expect to move to the DOI as the means of citation.
: Although not on your list, the American Physical Society
: has declared their electronic version to be the journal of
: record. APS does not have sequential page numbers. They use
: a 6-digit article number and instruct authors to cite that
: number in lieu of page numbers.
:
: We believe that in the near future more journals will move
: to use of the DOI and that it will become clear that AGU's
: practice is not "out of step with general trends in online
: publishing", but rather defines the trend for the industry.
: For example, already Nature has adopted the DOI as part of
: their citation. The following is a quote from their web
: site: "Given the utility of the DOI in locating an online
: publication in the future, we encourage you to use DOIs in
: your reference citations (see "Can I use the DOI in a
: reference citation?")."
:
: Furthermore, we believe that the method of citation chosen
: by AGU is rather clear and that users of the print version
: will not have difficulty in locating an article. The AGU
: recommended citation style includes the volume and the
: issue number. The issue number is an aid for those using
: the print journal. Once the user gets to the printed
: journal, he/she finds an author index and a DOI index for
: that issue. These indexes indicate the article order within
: that printed issue. We assign an issue number at the time
: of publication. For special sections, that number may be
: several months in the future. But the issue number is the
: best key to finding an article on the shelf of printed
: journals. The issue number appears on the spine of the
: journal.
:
: Of course, as you state, we could search for interim
: "solutions" that would allow sequential page numbers to
: coexist with the DOI. We have considered this issue and
: find that the costs of doing this far outweigh any
: benefits. Here are two ideas and our reasons for discarding
: them.
:
: 1. We could have sequential page numbers in the printed
: journal if we did not provide a pdf online until the
: journal is printed. (Otherwise, we have to pay the cost for
: remaking all of the pages just to get the page numbers into
: them for the printing process, an additional cost that is
: clearly not justified). This strikes us as a terrible idea.
:
: 2. We could go the route of Nature and cite the paper one
: way before printing and another way after. The Publications
: Committee sees this as an option that potentially causes
: confusion rather than enlightenment. We chose the DOI as a
: consistent and persistent way of citing an article from the
: moment of publication. The DOI is an international standard
: designed exactly for the purpose of citing electronic
: material in a way that persists regardless of changes in
: technology or changes in the server on which a particular
: file resides.
:
: In summary, it is our opinion that we cannot simply stagger
: along attempting to keep up with changes by applying
: short-term, inadequate fixes. We believe that the move to
: the DOI as a citation standard may put AGU ahead of the
: curve, but the rest of the world will soon catch up and we
: all will become used to the new way of citing articles. We
: hope that you will stay the course with AGU, even if you
: remain skeptical. At the pace of advancements in electronic
: publishing, the results of the "experiment" will be known
: to all of us in very short order.
:
: Sincerely,
:
: George M. Hornberger, Chair
: Publications Committee, AGU
:
:
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