On August 21, 2014, we sent an open letter to SfN about their new open access journal, eNeuro. Today, SfN contacted me directly by email with the following response. Since their email was in response to open correspondence, did not say it was confidential, and was sent by Communications & Public Affairs, I am assuming implied permission to share. As far as I know, their response has not been published elsewhere. I will write my detailed reaction to this soon. For now, I would just like to point out that SfN has not addressed any of our concerns or recommendations.
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from: Allen Segal [email address redacted]
to: “emck31@gmail.com” <emck31@gmail.com>
date: Mon, Sep 29, 2014 at 2:03 PM
subject: Responding to Open Letter to SfN
Dear Dr. McKiernan:
We received your letter regarding eNeuro, the new open-access journal from the Society for Neuroscience.
In the ever-changing environment of scientific publishing, we appreciate your interest in the issues relating to launching an online-only journal. As we move forward with this new SfN effort, we are committed to taking into consideration all of the many facets of online publishing and how they affect the audiences concerned: the general public, scientists, authors, and the field.
With that in mind, we appreciate your letter and its contributions to the dialogue about eNeuro, and to the broader discussion of scientific publication in the digital age.
Sincerely,
Allen
Allen Segal
Senior Director, Communications & Public Affairs
Society for Neuroscience
[SfN address and contact information redacted]
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Well, I guess you have to say it’s better than the response from AAAS (i.e. not response at all). That’s as far as I’ll go.
Whenever somebody uses the word “committed” that means they are talking about something they’d rather not do.