A next year question: What is NIME’s policy regarding preprints? Is it permissible to submit a paper that has previously appeared as a preprint on an open-access site such as arXiv, Zenodo, or Figshare?
Best,
Chris
NIME’s code of practice is outlined here: NIME Principles & Code of Practice on Ethical Research
However, the newest version of the code, where self-publishing is addressed will be uploaded soon. @dbcavdir from the ethics committee who is working on this may be able to provide some guidance.
Thank you for your reply. I gather the applicable principle is “Authors should not submit manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one publication.” I have two consequent questions:
- Does a preprint (on arXiv for example) count as as a publication in this context? This requires official clarification, perhaps from the ethics committee as you suggest. Preprints are encouraged in physics and math (the main focus of arXiv) because they establish priority. The primary journals in those fields frequently impose long delays, during which an author is at risk of being scooped if journal publication is their only source of priority. Preprints are becoming more common in other fields for the same reason. Organizations such as arXiv, Zenodo (CERN) and Figshare are also part of the open-access science movement, which pushes back against the commodification of research by a small number of entrenched publishers who impose extremely high fees and thereby limit the reach of discoveries. It seems doubtful to me that a preprint on arXiv constitutes “publishing” in the sense of a journal or conference paper, but only NIME can clarify that.
- Assuming it does count, how much must a submission change in order to no longer be “essentially the same”? This is obviously a judgement call with no fixed answer, but any hints would be appreciated.
Best,
Chris