[Buddha-l] Conservative and liberal Buddhists

[Vera, Pedro L.]

>It was almost comical to see the look on their faces when I then asked them
>what we needed them for, given that as Richard says the authors do most of
>the work these days. It boiled down to distribution, that was the only thing
>they could give in their favour: that they had huge distribution networks.
>But with the internet, and lists like these, what do we need their
>distribution networks for?

Perhaps things are different in the humanities, but in the sciences, it's not only number of publications that count but also the reputation of the journal. In order to determine reputation, an index of "impact" has been calculated. The better the journal the higher the impact factor and thus the more prestigious to be accepted for publication. Of course, the definition becomes somewhat circular in that those journals with higher impact scores become "better" journals. Although the perception is changing, there is still a fair amount of bias towards publishing in open-access journals. These journals are still peer-reviewed, they just don't charge to view the contents. However, authors (or institutions) still pay a fee (sometimes considerable) to publish there. Publishing out of your desktop, then, would be considerably less than useless. 

So, one would guess that "peer-review" factor and the "impact" factor work against just using Latex to publish your results/book whatever, at least in science. As I see it, part of the problem rests with the institutional pressures to demonstrate productivity (and to document reputable productivity) that Richard alluded to earlier. I don't see either one of those pressures diminishing anytime soon, particularly peer-review. 

Which leads to what may be an entirely naive question, but is there peer-review in the humanities for journal articles or is it restricted to the sciences? I would there is some sort of review although it is hard to imagine (at least for me) how it would work. What does peer-review entail for philosophy or religion?

Regards,

Pedro