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Whither preprints?. Sune Karlsson Stockholm School of Economics. Background. Started S-WoPEc (Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics) 1997 Project run by the SSE Library Initially funded by the Royal Library Founding member of RePEc Runs EconPapers.hhs.se, RePEc service
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Whither preprints? Sune Karlsson Stockholm School of Economics
Background • Started S-WoPEc (Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics) 1997 • Project run by the SSE Library • Initially funded by the Royal Library • Founding member of RePEc • Runs EconPapers.hhs.se, RePEc service • Runs LogEc.hhs.se, usage statistics for RePEc
Scholarly Communication • Traditional, journal-based process very slow • Preprints play an important role • Limited circulation and hard to find
Preprints • Working papers, technical reports, manuscripts with limited distribution • To be published is not sufficient • Distribution and exposure prior to publication is necessary in order to influence current research • A majority of researchers are marginalized
Leveling the playing field • RePEc and SSRN act as equalizers • Working papers are now easily located • Download free of charge (in most cases) • RePEc 58 500 full texts • SSRN 36 300 full texts • RePEc • 800 000 abstract views/month • 150 000 full text downloads/month
Additional services • Author registration, authors.repec.orgCVs for registered authors • Citation linking • 218 Economics journals searchable through RePEc
Do we need journals? Services provided by journals • Access to research • Journals are failing • Provided by preprint servers • Quality control, sorting and ranking • Value added in the refereeing process
Towards quality control • NAJ Econ • NEP, the RePEc current awareness service could be the extended to provide rankings • Reader input, personal recommendations • Changing the traditions of the profession is a long term process
In the mean time • RePEc is an important outlet for free, low-budget, electronic journals • Economics Bulletin • Brazilian Electronic Journal of Economics • The Electronic Journal of Evolutionary Modeling and Economic Dynamics • International Review of Economics Education • Review on Economic Cycles
Conclusions • Preprint servers • provide important services now and in the future • can play an important role in the transformation of the publishing model