We are very pleased to announce a new partnership between PEA Soup and the distinguished journal, Ethics. In addition to our regular postings, PEA Soup's editors will select one article from each issue of Ethics to be the focus of a featured discussion on our blog. Ethics, in turn, will make an on-line copy of the featured article available to our readers for free (for three months). At the time of the article's publication, we will post a link to the open-access copy, and then a week later an open discussion of it will be introduced with a critical précis by an invited discussant.
We expect that this partnership will give rise to a series of lively and productive conversations. Stay tuned for details on the first featured article, which will be selected from the next issue of Ethics (Volume 120, Number 1).
Special thanks to everyone at Ethics, especially its Editor, Henry S. Richardson, and Managing Editor, Catherine Galko Campbell, for their help and participation.
I think this is a great idea, and hope other similar partnerships between blogs and journals will follow.
Posted by: Kevin Timpe | November 13, 2009 at 08:42 PM
Yeah! This is really cool.
Posted by: Neil Sinhababu | November 14, 2009 at 03:21 AM
Brilliant idea. Could we get some kind of system going where someone writes a short intro to that article (in the way we have had reading groups here before)? Of course the author of the article would be ideal but failing that we could have some kind of a circulating system...
Posted by: Jussi Suikkanen | November 14, 2009 at 03:22 AM
Should read these more carefully. Of course it already mentions the critical precis. Well done...
Posted by: Jussi Suikkanen | November 14, 2009 at 03:24 AM
I think this is an excellent idea ... except for the disappointing news that the open access copy of the article will only be made available for a paltry three months. I know I for one have come back to PEA Soup long after the active discussions are over to see what the smart people here had to say on a given topic. And I think it's an important principle that anyone should be able to do this and have access to all the discussion materials as far as possible, whether or not they have the privilege of access to institutional subscriptions.
Can't U of Chicago Press afford to make these selected articles open access in perpetuity (as Philosopher's Annual does?). How would it hurt their revenue streams to do so?
Posted by: Simon Rippon | November 14, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Well done, Souper Powers! This is a great idea.
Posted by: David Sobel | November 14, 2009 at 10:29 AM
This is such a great idea, I'm sure it won't be long until other prominent group blogs follow suit.
Posted by: Clayton Littlejohn | November 14, 2009 at 07:11 PM
Is Souper Friends already old news?
Posted by: David Sobel | November 14, 2009 at 07:36 PM
People should know that we have Josh Glasgow to thank both for taking the initiative in bringing this proposal to Ethics and for handling the long negotiations that ensued. Of course, as Josh notes, we have the Editor, Henry S. Richardson, and the Managing Editor, Catherine Galko Campbell, to thank for their support and for their help in making this happen. And we have Dan Boisvert to thank for formatting the handsome Ethics cover icons and the special "Ethics at PEA Soup" page.
Simon: We tried, of course, to get the U of Chicago Press to go for free, open, and unlimited access to the relevant article for each issue, but we were ultimately unsuccessful. Nevertheless, I think that the U of Chicago Press should be commended for taking such an important step. I don't know of any other major print journal making one article from each issue freely available for three months or partnering with a blog to facilitate timely and open discussion of some of its content. I think that this is a pretty exciting development, and we owe everyone involved much thanks and appreciation for all the hard work that went into bringing this to fruition.
Posted by: Doug Portmore | November 14, 2009 at 08:26 PM
Great idea - nice work!
Posted by: Brad C | November 14, 2009 at 10:20 PM
Doug: Thanks - I didn't mean to come off sounding quite so negative. While I'm not a fan of the present widespread acceptance of heavy copyright restrictions on academic research, I do agree that this is a step in the right direction (and a hard-won one, by the sound of it!). And it's certainly an exciting development for this blog. Thanks to Josh and the others involved!
Posted by: Simon Rippon | November 15, 2009 at 12:50 PM
Thanks for the enthusiasm, everyone. We really hope it will be a productive partnership, so be sure to look for the first installment around the end of the year.
(Also, perhaps we can collectively encourage authors whose articles are featured in this series to put their articles on their personal Web sites.)
Posted by: Josh Glasgow | November 17, 2009 at 03:02 PM
Though I basically agree with Simon about copyright, I think probably it's not a big practical issue in this case, because the large majority of our readers will have access to ETHICS online through their libraries.
Or is that not right? I'm just assuming.
Posted by: Jamie Dreier | November 17, 2009 at 08:55 PM