Post publication peer review?
The Elsevier boycott led by mathematician Timothy Gowers of Cambridge University continues to grow and is getting mainstream media coverage. Over 5,700 researchers (majority from math and physical sciences) have signed the list, publicly objecting to Elsevier's business practices: 1. They charge exorbitantly high prices for subscriptions to individual journals. 2. In the light of these high prices, the only realistic option for many libraries is to agree to buy very large "bundles", which will include many journals that those libraries do not actually want. Elsevier thus makes huge profits by exploiting the fact that some of their journals are essential. 3. They support measures such as SOPA, PIPA and the Research Works Act, that aim to restrict the free exchange of information."
This important conversation is also drawing attention to alternative approaches to scholarly publishing such as F1000, an open access publishing platform for the sciences that will roll out later on this year. From their website "Diverging from traditional journal publishing, F1000 Research will offer immediate publication; open, post-publication peer review; open revisioning of work including ongoing updates; and encourage raw data deposition and publication."
