Comments to
- M.M. Attar, J.D. Scantlebury
- Polyaniline as a possible inhibitor for the corrosion of mild steel
J. Corr. Sci. Eng., Vol 1, paper 8
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 09:05:36 BST
Sender: CORROS-Request @listserv.rl.ac.uk>
From: Bob Cottis @FS1.CP.UMIST.AC.UK>
Subject: Comments on pre-print versions of papers
To: Multiple recipients of list CORROS-L @LISTSERV.RL.AC.UK>
You will be aware that we publish the original paper submitted to
JCSE before it has been formally reviewed (a 'pre-print'). It is
also our intention to allow readers to attach comments to papers
once they have been reviewed. One reader has requested to attach a
comment to a paper that is still in the pre-print stage. I have
rejected this request, and his subsequent question and my comment
follow for your interest and comment.
Bob Cottis
Firstly my 'rejection' of a comment -
> >Thank you for the comment. However, as I implied in my reply to
> >you, I can't reasonably attach a comment to the paper until it has
> >been formally reviewed and ammended by the authors in response to
> >the reviewers' comments.
The potential commenter's response -
> maybe, but why not? isn't the electronic journal (and the
> publication of the paper BEFORE reviewing) a very nice tool for a
> public discussion?
>
> I propose to make a public discussion out of this paper and my
> comment, maybe including the corrosion list. Why not? The paper is
> opne, why not also my comment?
and my reply -
This is an interesting, and rather complicated, question. JCSE is a
Journal of record, which implies that anything published in it is
permanent, including comments to papers. I recognize that the
publication of pre-print versions of papers is an exception to this
rule, but if we start to include transient comments, it all starts to
get rather confused, and the reader in the future will find it
difficult to follow. This is the basis of my view that we should only
accept comments to papers when the papers themselves are fixed, i.e.
after the reviewing process. CORROS-L is an appropriate place to make
transient comments on preprint copies of papers (as we are currently
archiving CORROS-L this record will also be available in the future,
and the chronology of the discussion will be available to readers).
-------------------
Bob Cottis, Corrosion and Protection Centre, UMIST,
P.O. Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD, UK
R.A.Cottis @ UMIST.AC.UK, Tel 0161-200-4843 Fax 0161-200-4865
Editor, Journal of Corrosion Science and Engineering
http://www.cp.umist.ac.uk/JCSE/JCSE.htm
