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- A large percentage of all demographic groups found checking for plagiarism to be important and a slightly smaller group found checking for self-plagiarism as important. There was no discernible difference across demographic groups for the other measures. Similarly, self-plagiarism was also mentioned as another area for improvement. Some noted that context is the key; for example, conference papers are a common and typical area where self-plagiarism could occur in an otherwise scientifically sound submission.
- Several respondents said they were unaware of precisely what quality-control measures were already in place, and felt that the process is too opaque. Others acknowledged the difficult balance between rejecting papers that are clearly unworthy—“crackpot”—and rejecting papers for other, perhaps less obvious, and anonymized reasons. However, even in the face of such criticisms there was a strong thread of satisfaction with arXiv’s current quality-control process and users cautioned against going too far in the other direction.
- Some users would prefer that arXiv embrace a more open peer review and/or moderation process, while others were adamant that current controls allow arXiv the freedom and speed of access that is otherwise unobtainable through traditional publishing.
- Overall, the feeling was that quality control matters but user comments varied greatly in relation to how arXiv could practically achieve these goals. As one respondent wrote, “Judgment about quality control is a very relative issue."
Adding New Subject Categories:
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