Dear SHOErs,

There has been some talk on the list concerning various assessment exercises using bibliometrics. We have been looking at our side of the problem, but there is another one. The Harvard library system found that major journal are unaffordable (and they are surely not the poorest library in the world) http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k77982&tabgroupid=icb.tabgroup143448 . Accordingly, the Faculty Advisory Council to the Library suggests, among other things, that students and Faculty members should "Consider submitting articles to open-access journals, or to ones that have reasonable, sustainable subscription costs; move prestige to open access" and, if on the editorial boards of expensive journals, they should "determine if it can be published as open access material, or independently from publishers that practice pricing described above. If not, consider resigning".

Although this does not itself disqualify current bibliometrics, it gives it a new twist. My guess is that subscription price is to some extent correated to journal ranking. The suggestion not to publish in such journals, however, is unsustainable for faculty members (except the most senior ones) and surely for students. Have we pushed ourselves in a catch 22 situation?

Daniele Besomi