Subject: Ahem, shouldn't we do something about it?

From: "Jason K. Perry" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 11:27:37 -0700

I'm a regular follower of the xxx.lanl.gov/cond-mat high temperature
superconductivity e-print server (check out
http://xxx.lanl.gov/list/cond-mat.supr-con/recent).  The server has
become a vital part of research in this particular field, where peer
review is extremely slow (publication of theory papers routinely takes
more than one year and is often subject to politics).  There are no
forums for ranking or commenting on the papers.  It's just a fast
delivery service for preprints.  This, of course, is its biggest
advantage.

Some of the papers on this site have been uploaded after being accepted
for publication in a journal, but most are uploaded in conjuction with
journal submission. Physical Review even allows transfer of a paper
directly from the Los Alamos server when submitting for publication
on-line.  The APS is definitely way ahead of the ACS in this arena.

While I recognize that peer review is an important process for catching
errors, and the papers on this site should be approached carefully, in
general I like being able to judge for myself if a paper has merit or
not.  I definitely appreciate having access to the most cutting edge
work in the field.

I'm not sure yet how this might play out in chemistry.  Research topics
are much more diverse than in physics, and the review process is not
quite as bad.  This suggests the demand for an e-print server may be
less.  Still, I would like to see a server devoted to computational
chemistry.  Something in conjuction with CCL would be ideal...

    Jason Perry

--
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Jason K. Perry, Ph.D.
First Principles Research, Inc.
8391 Beverly Blvd., #171, Los Angeles, CA 90048
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