Future of PDG Publications PDG is considering various
Future of PDG Publications PDG is considering various options. Have not yet reached conclusions. Printed Book (even years) Booklet (even years) Off-year Publication (odd years) M. Barnett – October 2016 1
Future of PDG Publications Printed Book (even years) This year the Book has: • Summary Tables • Reviews • No Listings The book is half as big, but missing major content. We need to see what the reaction is before passing judgement. The journal website still has all contents including Listings. M. Barnett – October 2016 2
Future of PDG Publications Printed Book (even years) This year the Book has: • Summary Tables • Reviews • No Listings The printing of the book (and shipping to LBNL, KEK, CERN, and IHEP-CAS) is free this year. The four institutions still pay to ship to individual physicists. The future of the Book depends in part on funding. Readers continue to request it in large numbers. M. Barnett – October 2016 3
Future of PDG Publications Printed Book (even years) Book no longer identical to the Journal publication. – Journal still has the Listings. – This means extra work for the editor. – In theory, can print Book independently from journal, but in practice there is no funding for that. Online publication costs small compared to printing and shipping of the PDG Book – No cost to PDG (SCOAP 3 or covered by journal) But if no cost, how to choose the journal to publish in? M. Barnett – October 2016 4
Future of PDG Publications Booklet (even years) The Booklet has: • Summary Tables (all except baryon resonances) • Abbreviated Reviews of 32 of the 117 total • No Listings (never had them) CERN pays for them, so no cost to Berkeley except distribution. However, there is a significant effort to produce completely different files. M. Barnett – October 2016 5
Future of PDG Publications Booklet (even years) The Booklet has: • Summary Tables (all except baryon resonances) • Abbreviated Reviews of 32 of the 117 total • No Listings (never had them) Your smartphone is about the same size. Our mobile site has more content and is more user friendly. But it is our most popular item. It is an icon of PDG. Students feel like they are particle physicists when they receive their first Booklet. Very heavy usage in college classrooms. M. Barnett – October 2016 6
Future of PDG Publications Booklet (even years) The Booklet has: • Summary Tables (all except baryon resonances) • Abbreviated Reviews of 32 of the 117 total • No Listings (never had them) So we probably keep it for now. One possibility: Publish it in odd years… if the schedule can be made to work. 2 nd possibility: In the Booklet Reviews, only allow tables, formulae, and figures, no text in general. M. Barnett – October 2016 7
Future of PDG Publications Off-year Publication (odd years) In off-years (such as 2015), we do substantial work to produce Data Listings, Summary Tables, and Reviews. Credit The authors should receive credit for this off-year work. Citation The authors should get citations based on this work. Off-year publication would solve the problem of the very awkward way that we ask people to cite the off-year edition: K. A. Olive et al. (Particle Data Group), Chin. Phys. C, 38, 090001 (2014) and 2015 update. M. Barnett – October 2016 8
Future of PDG Publications Off-year Publication (odd years) An immutable record Publishing in a journal yields a permanent record. Problem and solution We don’t publish because of the effort to produce a printed book. However, now it could be entirely virtual (on a journal’s website). Need to assure that there is not any substantial extra work. We think this is possible. M. Barnett – October 2016 9
Future of PDG Publications Four versions of off-year publication Full edition, but online only (like current versions made by journals). No print versions. All single column just like our online version, so little extra work. Summary Tables and Reviews, with link to our Data Listings No printed version for PDG. Maybe for their subscribers. Single column. Summary Tables, with link to our Data Listings No printed version for PDG. Maybe for their subscribers. Single column. Short summary article (see next page) in journal like Phys Rev D or Phys. Rev. Lett. Link to our web update. M. Barnett – October 2016 10
Future of PDG Publications Summary article could be extended version of highlights, written as text. M. Barnett – October 2016 11
Future of PDG Publications Conclusions (as PDG continues to study options) BOOK Hope to continue to produce reduced book for now, with full edition on journal website (plus PDG website). This depends on financial support for printing and distributing. Demand for print remains significant. BOOKLET Booklet is PDG’s most popular product, though mobile site has more content and is more user-friendly. CERN pays for Booklet. OFF-YEAR Considering producing a Full edition in off-years, but online only (like current versions made by journals). M. Barnett – October 2016 12
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