Indologist writings on the Web like R. Eaton

[David Salmon]

Lars Martin Fosse wrote:
<quote>
This is a very important point which I too have tried to make on occasion.
Indians are often seriously handicapped when it comes to following up what
happens in Western Indology, simply because many Western publications (both
books and journals) are obscenely expensive.
<endquote>

Not only Indians.  The subscription rates for professional journals in
general require that one be independently wealthy.  Even the online versions
of some of the journals are high.

The solution lies with the authors.  The copyright belongs to the author
unless he or she sells/gives it to the journal.   Professional journals in
the legal field are often willing to let the author copyright the article.
Is this not true of Indological journals?

If the copyright is retained, there would be no legal impediment to also
publishing the article in a web-based journal, say a few months after its
publication in the prestigious journal.  Prof. Witzel's e-journals are an
example of what could be done.  After awhile, the major paper-based journal
publishers might have to compete.

It could also be an avenue for avoiding confinement to publication-on-CDROM.

David