Standardized metadata tags for peer reviewed and free.

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

As the discussion between David Goodman and Phil Davis indicates, 
the simple questions of whether an article is free or not, peer 
reviewed or not are almost impossible to answer easily. We need 
standard metadata tags across ALL types of journals and sites 
that mark whether an article is free or not and peer reviewed or 
not. Simple perhaps, but it would support ease of use and 
identification. Ranganathan's law is basic good sense for 
publishers and librarians and web indexing systems: don't waste 
the user's time. While furthering that goal, a side benefit might 
be some simpler capacity to actually measure the universe of free 
peer reviewed articles and whether they behave differently than 
non-free articles and what the variables might be that separate 
the cited from the uncited.

But first, let's make it simpler for users to identify free peer 
reviewed articles. It shouldn't be an arcane secret or something 
only a librarian can figure out. It should be clear and easy to 
determine which articles are free and scholarly.

Chuck Hamaker
Associate University Librarian Collections and Technical Services
Atkins Library
University of North Carolina Charlotte
Charlotte, NC 28223
phone 704 687-2825