----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- THE ECONOMICS OF SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATION Conference organized by the Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics (EIPE) in Collaboration with the Institutional History of Economics (IHE) Research Area of the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) Wednesday, 19 April 2000 Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands Program 8:30- 9:15 Reception Panel and Overview Chair: Arjo Klamer (Erasmus University Rotterdam) 9:15- 9:45 Panel of book publishers, journal publishers, and librarians: What are the questions? 9:45-10:15 Steve Fuller (University of Warwick, UK): The Publication Nexus as Defeating the Republican Ideal of Science 10:15-10:45 A. Javier Izquierdo Martfn (UNED Madrid, Spain): Art-Imitating Nature: Scientific Authorship as "Appropriatory Art" 10:45-11:00 Break Overview and Panel Response Chair: Esther-Mirjam Sent (University of Notre Dame) 11:00-11:30 Arjo Klamer (Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands) and Harry van Dalen (WRR and Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands): Attention and the Art of Scientific Publishing 11:30-12:00 Panel of book publishers, journal publishers, and librarians: Are our question addressed? 12:00-13:30 Lunch Publication Crisis Chair: Ruth Towse (Erasmus University Rotterdam) 13:30-14:00 Maarten F. Cornet and Ben A. Vollaard (Centraal Planbureau, the Netherlands): Tackling the Journal Crisis: When Authors Pay with Money instead of Copyrights 14:00-14:30 Jan Bergstra (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands): A Sharp Debate in Computer Science 14:30-14:45 Break Economics of the Publication Crisis Chair: Uskali MSki (Erasmus University Rotterdam) 14:45-15:15 Bob Parks (University of Washington at St. Louis, USA): The Faustian Grip: A Dismal Essay of Status-Quo in Academic Publishing 15:15-15:45 Henk W. Plasmeijer (University of Groningen, the Netherlands): Pricing the Virtual Library 15:45-16:00 Break Publication Possibilities Chair: Wilfred Dolfsma (Technical University Delft) 16:00-16:30 John Mackenzie Owen (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands): The New Dissemination of Knowledge: Digital Libraries and Institutional Roles in Scientific Publishing 16:30-17:00 Thomas Krichel (University of Surrey, UK): Working towards an Open Library for Economics: The RePEc Project 17:00-17:15 Break Discussion Chairs: Arjo Klamer and Esther-Mirjam Sent 17:15-18:15 Panel of book publishers, journal publishers, and librarians: What about these answers? 19:00 Dinner Abstracts Jan Bergstra (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands): A Sharp Debate in Computer Science In computing the debate about the status of commercial journals is very sharp. I will discuss the case of some particular journals. The arguments in favor and against cooperation of scientists with these are reviewed. The question whether there are aspects specific for computing is reviewed. Maarten F. Cornet and Ben A. Vollaard (Centraal Planbureau, the Netherlands): Tackling the Journal Crisis: When Authors Pay with Money instead of Copyrights Abstract: There is a crisis in scientific publishing. The most pressing problem is the reduced access to scientific knowledge, caused by ever-rising prices for journals and limited library budgets. The journal crisis is a logical result of the current set-up of the market. Publishers who obtain copyrights on high-quality papers (their most important input) are able to charge monopoly prices, since papers are not interchangeable like jars of peanut butter. Recent changes in ICT enable a reform of this market setup. If the government wants to fundamentally tackle the journal crisis it could target policy at the limitation of access: publishers' copyrights on scientific papers. When copyrights are made ineffective by placing them in the hands of an independent institute, and authors pay publishers with money instead of copyrights, a competitive system of scientific publishing and free access to scientific papers can result. Steve Fuller (University of Warwick, UK): The Publication Nexus as Defeating the Republican Ideal of Science Abstract: Decisions taken by, on the one hand, academic journal and book publishers and, on the other, scholars who refer to work appearing in their publications constitute two defining moments in the interface between the production and distribution of scientific knowledge. However, neither have as their primary concern the advancement of knowledge as a public good. Rather, for each, offering some direction along these lines is a vehicle for promoting their own ends, which can be summarized as the accumulation of a certain kind of capital, be it called "economic" or "symbolic." Unfortunately, because there are no institutions explicitly designed for the advancement of knowledge as a public good, some combination of publication and citation practices functions as a surrogate standard by which policymakers -- both in and out of academia -- assess the growth of knowledge. Thus, one turns to such things as book sales, journal circulations, and citation counts as "science indicators." This effectively means that the republican ideal of science as the "open society" is held hostage to the material conditions of knowledge production. In this talk, I describe several forms that this captivity can take and the distortions to the republican ideal that result. A. Javier Izquierdo Martfn (UNED Madrid, Spain): Art-Imitating Nature: Scientific Authorship as "Appropriatory Art" Abstract: In this paper we will claim that radical aesthetic attempts at freeing artistic creativity from the kind of expert judgement and scholarly critique that takes the form of objective explanatory models of "authenticity", can help us understand a much neglected literary enigma: that of scientific authorship. An enigma that can be expressed as follows: is it possible to be objective-neutral and creative-personal at the same time? Is it possible for someone to completely appropriate the style of other (Nature, Society, Reality) without being discredited as a counterfeiter, much the contrary being praised as "original"? There is indeed a flagrant contradiction in the fact that a person could reach the status of a "creative being", as most successful scientists do, by the very means of refusing to have a personal style at all, as demanded by the positivist canon in the philosophy of science adhered by most of these individuals. But a very similar paradoxical operation has been successfully accomplished outside the realms of science, by an artistic avant-garde movement known as "appropriatory art" that took hold in the visual arts and music during the 80s and the 90s. As the positive scientist claiming to objectively represent natural phenomena and laws without polluting or deforming it to adapt to his personal desires or tastes, appropriatory artists such as painter Mike Bildo, photographer Sherry Levine or loads of DJs turned "sampling musicians", adopted what can be considered a scientific approach to art: they refuse to have a "personal style" by directly copying or imitating the work of others... but then claimed the status of original authors by adding their own name or signature to the faked work. Whether in its historical, sociological or economic variety, the progressive codification of subjective aesthetic and stylistic judgment in the form of objective (even quantitative) criteria and abstract theoretical (even mathematical) explanatory models, can always be countered by reflexive artistic actions seeking to break-up with the metaphysical burden of style. Counterfeiters do indeed make use of public expert knowledge to product better fakes and cheat those same experts. Extreme cases of scientific fraud, such as data faking, play the same critical role for the formulation and evolution of explicit models of scientific authenticity. The progressive standardization of peer-review procedures and editorial norms of style and content being here the most effective way for accommodating all forms of novelty and uniqueness into reliable public expression. And, for that very same reason, also the most powerful weapon in the hands of a skillful faker. Arjo Klamer (Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands) and Harry van Dalen (WRR and Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands): Attention and the Art of Scientific Publishing Abstract: Attention is the scarce good in the world of science (and so it is in other worlds). Characteristic for attention in the scientific world is that those who seek attention are the same people who are giving it. We discuss the effect this characteristic has on the institutions of scientific publication. Next we discuss the possible effects of a digitization on scientific publishing. An important thesis is that scientists go in groups and that instead of operating in widespread networks they converse in clusters. A clear indication for this is the clustering of citations. An another important feature is the skewed distribution of attention. Again, citations are the first indicator. We consider the institution the gatekeepers who bear major responsibilities for selection among all those who seek attention. How might this institution change and what are the consequences for the allocation and distribution of attention? Thomas Krichel (University of Surrey, UK): Working towards an Open Library for Economics: The RePEc Project Abstract: After arXiv.org, the RePEc Economics library offers the second-largest source of freely downloadable scientific papers in the world. RePEc has a different business model and a different content coverage and than arXiv.org. This talk will address both aspects. As far as the business model is concerned, RePEc is an instance of a concept that I call the "Open Library". An Open Library is open in two ways. It is open for contribution (third parties can add to it), and it is open for implementation (many user services may be created). Conventional (including most digital) libraries are closed in both directions. As far as the content coverage is concerned, RePEc seeks to build a relational dataset about scholarly resources and other aspects of reality that are related to the resources. This basically means identifying all authors, all papers all institutions that work in Economics. Such an ambitious project can only be achieved if the cost to collect metadata is decentralized and low, and if the benefits to supply metadata are large. The Open Library provides a framework where these conditions are fulfilled. John Mackenzie Owen (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands): The New Dissemination of Knowledge: Digital Libraries and Institutional Roles in Scientific Publishing Abstract: The dissemination of scientific information through publications traditionally has been based on the information chain model with a clear distinction between functional roles such as knowledge creation, publishing and intermediation. These roles are performed by separate institutions (e.g. research institutes, publishers and libraries) and also refer to distinct responsibilities. However, digitization and networks are leading to new digital distribution models - notably the concept of 'digital libraries' - which will challenge and transform the roles and responsibilities of the various actors in the information chain. This paper discusses such developments and their implications for traditional institutional roles and the underlying economic structure of the information chain. This discussion is then related to Michael Gibbons' notions of new knowledge production modes and to transdisciplinary knowledge dissemination. Bob Parks (University of Washington at St. Louis, USA): The Faustian Grip: A Dismal Essay of Status-Quo in Academic Publishing Abstract: Harnad describes the Faustian Bargain in which academic authors gave up their copyrights to publishers to get distribution of their works. The Faustian Grip describes, in a dismal way, why the bargain will remain even in the face of new technologies. The primary reason for this path dependence is that the institution of academic publishing has little to no incentive to change the status quo and quite a bit of incentive to maintain it. Henk W. Plasmeijer (University of Groningen, the Netherlands): Pricing the Virtual Library Abstract: This paper deals with the origins of the extraordinary price increases of academic journals; a phenomenon often called the serials crisis, and the transmission of the crisis into the electronic age. The paper is written from an economist's point of view. It is argued that attempts to dampen the crisis by means of changing the copyrights structure or by means of increasing the number of university owned academic journals, probably lead into a dead alley. The main argument is that for stopping the serials crisis, or for preventing it to go on in the electronic age, academic institutions should rethink the market structure of scientific communication. This means that first they should try to synchronize the individual and institutional willingness to pay for scientific information, and that second they should work hard to introduce some competition between the providers of bundles of electronic journals. The paper builds upon material that was published before in the Dutch language. In order to show how commercial publishers are preparing themselves for the electronic age, recent figures and information about market concentration are added. 1. The origin of the serials crisis is found in the seventies of the last century. The market for academic journals is characterized by a highly inelastic institutional demand and a highly elastic demand of personal subscribers. The total demand curve is kinked to the origin. An increase in the number of journal titles shifted the demand curve of the personal subscribers for each title downwards, which resulted in a sudden increase of institutional subscription rates. 2. It seems that these early price jumps have triggered of a budget-price spiral. Librarians started to anticipate on price increases and commercial publishers responded to the increasing willingness to pay as could be expected. 3. The problem is not the monopoly position of the commercial publishers. Copyrights on academic articles are perhaps not in harmony with the ideal of the free flow of scientific information, but they certainly are in harmony with the organization of the academic career structure. Those copyrights will always be owned by those who realize the highest value added. 4. Increasing the number of non-commercially offered journals will not help. The scientific information need is limitless and the new information is additional. It may drive average quality down. And once again, the property rights on the best journals will eventually come into the hands of those who realize the highest value added. 5. At the supply side of the market a drastic change takes place with the coming of the virtual library. The academic journals will come in bundles. This explains the rather feverish concentration among scientific publishers. (Recently: Francis and Taylor; in 1999 number one with respect to price increases.) 6. The present paper argues that competition among intermediate suppliers of bundles of journals (EBSCO, Swets and Zeitlinger), organized as contract management, in combination with a strictly monitored development of the institutional willingness to pay can put a brake on the serials crisis. Registration costs: DFL 100 or EURO 45 (registration + lunch), DFL 200 or EURO 90 (registration + lunch + dinner), DFL 35 or EURO 15 (student registration + lunch), DFL 135 or EURO 60 (student registration + lunch + dinner). Please send a message to Loes van Dijk at <[log in to unmask]> to receive a registration form. She can also be reached by phone at +31-10-4088967 and via fax at +31-10-4088979. Further updates will be posted at: http://www.eur.nl/fw/philecon/econpub.html ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]