Here’s the question: Should I post a preliminary dataset for GOA9 when I finish the final data-gathering pass, rather than waiting until the book is ready (my usual practice)?
I’ll finish Pass 2 (rechecking most problematic cases that weren’t also problematic last year) this weekend. I’ve looked at enough of the “xm2/xx2” cases (ones that were problematic this year and last) to believe that it may be worth the few days required to recheck those. So the data will be ready some time next week–probably May 2-4.
At that point, after a day off, I do some normalization, then start adding derivative data (e.g., revenue for each fee-charging journal, size and cost brackets), then prepare the book–probably a four or five week process. (The Diamond OA by Country book gets done after I’ve published the book and uploaded the dataset to Figshare–probably in mid-July.)
Of course, I’d really like people to read the text treatment before using the data, and it is possible that normalization could result in some data changes (probably very few, maybe none). Ideally, I’d like a few people to buy the print book (always priced at the nearest half-dollar over actual production costs), but that seems like a lost cause…
So: If I post this, there could be some changes–and I would NOT be tracking or posting those changes.
I’ll decide around May 2, based on feedback. [The early post would add maybe an hour or two of work; that’s not a decision point.] Please leave feedback in comments, in email (waltcrawford@gmail.com), or to waltcrawford on Mastodon. (I’ve been off the deadbird for months now.)
What say you?
