[TOS] Peer-Reviewed Open Source Journal

[Ross Gardler]

2009/3/11 Rob Cameron <cameron at cs.sfu.ca>:
> This is intriguing.   I would certainly be quite interested
> in discussing the editorial policy of any such journal.   How
> open source contributions can be considered for academic
> contributions is a hot topic here at SFU.

I'm very interested on behalf of the UK Academic sector (yes *all* of
it - see my day job at http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk ). I'm also
interested as an Apache Software Foundation Member (in a paricular as
a member of the Conference Committee where we've been talking about
engaging more academics doing software work - not survey work)

Setting up a peer reviewed journal is something OSS Watch have been
interested in for some time. However, the work involved in just
getting it going is immense, let alone the work needed to get it to
the point where it would count towards the Research Assessment
Excercise (that's what we call it in the UK, not sure what the
equivalent evaluation of research contributions is in the rest of the
world).

However, we *are* starting up a new Open Source conference in Q2 2010.
This conference will aim to link business to academic work. It will
have an academic strand and a business strand. The first one will be
in the UK, but subsequent ones need not be.

Is there mileage in linking the proposed journal to the conference? If
so then count me in. If not then I'll jump aboard if I see enough
momentum (or someone gives me enough money to pay someone to do it for
us).

> Perhaps dual editorial boards, one for academic review
> and one for open source review would be appropriate.
> Certainly, the success of a journal within academia would
> depend on issues of quality (and perception of quality).
> It might be helpful to work with the ACM on this.   Perhaps
> hosting the journal through an academic center (COSTAR
> at SFU?) would help.

If OSS Watch get involved then I'd be happy to host it here in the
University of Oxford. However, I suspect a neutral space would be
better.

Ross

> - Show quoted text -
> On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 11:18 PM, Chris Tyler <chris at tylers.info> wrote:
>>
>> I've found Greg's suggestion of a peer-reviewed journal (and/or
>> conference event) intriguing
>> (http://gregdek.livejournal.com/47357.html).
>>
>> If such a journal was established, I strongly feel that part of the
>> review process should be an evaluation of the researcher's participation
>> in and contribution back to the community. I've heard some devs say that
>> they're going to scream and/or throw heavy virtual objects at the next
>> academic that pops onto their project's list with yet another research
>> survey; I think we need work hard to foster a culture of participation
>> and collaboration between researchers and open source communities,
>> because each can benefit from the other.
>>
>> Is the establishment of a journal worthwhile? Any takers?
>>
>> -Chris
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> tos mailing list
>> tos at teachingopensource.org
>> http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Robert D. Cameron, Ph.D.
> Professor of Computing Science
> Simon Fraser University
> - Show quoted text -
> _______________________________________________
> tos mailing list
> tos at teachingopensource.org
> http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos
>



-- 
--
Ross Gardler

OSS Watch - awareness and understanding of open source software
development and use in education
http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk