Editorial
Home Page Publication
T
he onset of widespread use of the Internet and the popularity of personal home pages generates a need to examine many of the basic premises of scientific publication, including peer review, originality of published articles, and duplicate publication. Much has been written about the impact of electronic publication, and glowing pictures of the future have been painted. There are also potholes in the information Superhighway, and I'm going to comment particularly on one, namely the posting of research manuscripts on an individual's home page. The underlying issue revolves, I think, around what "publication" means. The printing of a manuscript in the research section of Analytical Chemistry constitutes publication. Does posting a copy of the paper on an electronic home page also constitute publication? How about sharing copies of the paper with the press who then give it widespread public reporting? The very last sentence of the Ethical Guidelines for Analytical Chemistry (and dther ACC journals) contains the words "extensive disclosure of research in the public press... is equivalent to a preliminary communication in the scientific literature", that is, publication. The home page is also a publication mechanism, albeit a new one. If I post my research manuscript on my home page, it becomes available over the Internet to an unlimited audience and may be downloaded by anyone into hard copy form. It is difficult to see this as being something other than a publication. Accordingly, an Editor becoming aware of a paper being posted on a home page prior to submission to Analytical Chemistry could regard the posted paper as a prior publication and decline to consider it for the journal. Further, posting of the paper after its publication in Analytical Chemistry is s vivlation nf copyright that the author has conveyed to the ACS and constitutes duplicate publication as well. Although one should never say never
(and I'm not), I think it is important that authors understand the current views of the journal on this home page issue. It is also important to remember the significance of peer review of publications in chemistry. Posting on a home page is not (normally) accompanied by peer review. The value of peer review lies in the evaluation of the paper by experts for originality, clarity, technical quality, and impact. Although the review process is not a perfect one, there is no doubt that it vastly improves the quality and ensures the reliability of published papers. Other chemists rely on this being done, and in the leading journals with high standards. Circumventing peer review places a severe limitation on the credibility of a paper and, in my opinion, thereby damages potentially important research. Finally, publication in chemistry has traditionally meant that the published material will be archived so as to be available in the near and longer-term future for other scientists to access and to validate by repeating or extending the work. Publishing on a home page, at least currently, has no warranty stature of permanent availability of the information. I am not writing about a current problem, because I am not aware of any past example of posting Analytical Chemistry manuscripts so nome eages. I simply wish to forestall unfortunate misunderstandings with the valued authors of the journal. Providing information about one's research activities on a home page is an important new device for self-advertisement (which I do not discourage), but posting Analytical Chemistry manuscripts should be avoided.
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, May 1, 1996 291 A
