Re: The House of Cards

[Gene Sprouse <sprouse@ridge.aps.org>]

Sandy's reference to Physical Review growing at the speed of 
light is a classic among physicists.  To address the information 
overload problem that he mentions, we are starting a new online 
publication, simply called "Physics".  Each of the 18,000 
articles we publish in a year is important to at least a small 
group of specialists, but there are some articles that every 
physicist should know about.  To help readers find and understand 
these gems, "Physics"  will highlight a few outstanding articles 
each week by means of an introduction (called a "Viewpoint" ) 
written by a respected expert at a level accessible to all 
physicists and physics students.  We are in beta test now (take a 
look at http://physics.aps.org ).  We will officially roll out 
the site on September 15.  "Physics" and the target articles of 
the "Viewpoints" will be free for the foreseeable future, as a 
service to the physics community.

Gene D. Sprouse
Editor in Chief, American Physical Society

On Aug 19, 2008, at 6:06 PM, Sandy Thatcher wrote:

> Green OA is certainly proliferating, I agree, and there are more
> Gold OA journals joining the pack every day. No question that OA
> is a success, if you mean by success an increase in the number of
> publishing outlets and in the accessibility of journal articles.
> But does anyone really know if this means that the quality of
> knowledge has increased? What this world doesn't need is more
> stuff to wade through to find the good stuff worth spending one's
> time reading. I am reminded of an article in Physics Today back
> in 1988 that observed that at its then current rate of growth the
> Physical Review would soon fill library shelves at a speed faster
> than that of light, but that this didn't contradict the theory of
> relativity because no information was being conveyed!
>
> Sandy Thatcher
> Penn State Press
>
>> I cannot resist agreeing strongtly with Stevan Harnad on this
>> point. The Green Road and its future is anything but bleak,
>> judging from the REALITY of its present and the speed of its
>> progress. The gold road is progressing rapidly too as I can
>> witness at close range here in Brazil where I am a guest
>> professor right now. Just look at SciELO. In short, it is Mr.
>> Esposito's sense of reality that is in question, not Stevan
>> harnad's or mine...
>>
>> Jean-Claude Guedon