While still in the process of writing a paper with an upper limit on the number of pages, I sometimes would like to include a line like: see "link to my weblog" for more information. Of course, this is not done in academic papers, but the idea is tempting. Page limitations are a mixed blessing, they force one to focus on the essentials, and on the other hand skipping something that a reviewer thinks is essential generates the risk of the paper being rejected. This particular paper has four authors, and it is about tools (we need screendumps that take a lot of space) both are complicating matters.
I am looking forward to the day when: (1) Space does not matter, bloggers already have discovered this!; (2) Academic institutions realise the value of tools in relation to papers. At the moment, papers are the prime currency and there are many cases in which the tool is more interesting (academically) than the paper describing it.
Why not write the separate material as a separate article, publish it on your blog, and then cite it as you would any other material. Of course, citing self-published materials may not go over well with the review board, depending on the nature of the citation.
Although electronic publishing does remove the physical space limitations, there is still a value in having length restrictions on articles. The contraint imposes a necessary focus that, IMHO, often results in a clearer paper.
Posted by: Ed Bilodeau | January 19, 2005 at 02:37 PM
Ed, I prefer to keep references to self-publications to an absolute minimum. The idea is that a paper has to be self-contained and if one is aiming for that one runs out of space very quickly.
I agree that there is a good reason for a page limit, but sometimes it is too stringent.
Posted by: Anjo | January 20, 2005 at 08:49 PM