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While people do discuss, why are they not commenting ?
Yuntao Wu (25 April 2008) George Mason University
The open access, online publication is certainly a better way of communication among scientists. The additional feature of "online comments" provides a new tool that can never be imagined by the traditional paper publication. However, for most of the open access online journals, at present, readers' comments are still rare. It certainly does not translate into a lack of interests by readers. Even some of the highly accessed articles are not commented. Personally, I believe we need some initiatives to encourage the use of this new tool. It may need some time, or we may have to design some new methods to emphasize the importance of online commenting. This new tool provides a continuous, "life-time review" by peers. This has never been achieved before. We should not treat it lightly. However, we certainly need new thinking to get this tool fully-developed so its value becomes apparent!
Competing interests
None declared
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