What, Why and How?

Q. What is Indian Plasma Physics Preprint Server (IPPPS) ?

It will be an eprint Server, based on OPEN ACCESS Initiative, dedicated to the Research & Development in the field of Plasma Physics and related topics. This will be a community supported server.

Server will be open to all, targeting but not restricted to the people of Indian origin, working in India and around the world, who wish to archive their work at IPPPS.

The idea is very similar to the arXiv.org e-Print archive, CERN Document Server and other hundreds of eprint servers. However serving the specific needs of plasma physics community of Indian origin and India (and probably other developing countries).

We would love to expand its scope to all area of physics, and possibly science for India, but to start let's KISS (keeping it simple and small).

Q. What is an Open Access Initiative (OAI) ? E-print Server ?

The Budapest Open Access Initiative(OAI) is an effort to make research articles in all academic fields freely available on the Internet.

OAI is a fast and effectively way to share your scientific work (refereed/non-refereed) with a large number of researchers and technologist, without forcing them to subscribe the costly journals/publications. Of course you (the authors) also don't pay anything to 'publish' the work. Moreover, as many think, the people should not pay to learn about the research funded by their own (public) money.

There is enormous amount of literature on Open Access movement. Here is few links, and please follow the links therein.
http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml (Budapest Open Access Initiative)
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/fosblog.html (Open Access News )
http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/ (eprints.org)

To put it again, a cut/paste from (http://www.eprints.org/self-faq/#purpose-self-archiving) site:

"The purpose is....to make.....research output of scholars/scientists and their institutions visible, accessible, harvestable, searchable and useable by any potential user with access to the Internet. The purpose of thus maximizing public access to research findings online is that this in turn maximizes its visibility, usage and impact -- which in turn not only maximizes its benefits to researchers and their institution in terms of prestige, prizes, salary, and grant revenue but it also maximizes its benefits to research itself (and hence to the society that funds it) in terms of research dissemination, application and growth, hence research productivity and progress. This is why open access is both optimal and inevitable."

E-print Server is the way to make all this possible. In very low cost and maintenance. See: http://www.eprints.org/ and: http://software.eprints.org/


Q. Why an Indian Plasma Physics Server ?

Indian Plasma Physics Preprint Server...

• Will serve as a single, centerlised source of work (published/unpublished) in plasma physics, serving Indian need.
• Will serve a single place to access the PhD and masters thesis work done by the people of Indian origin.
• Will provide a better exposure of work done by Indian in the field of plasma physics.
  
• Will provide the researchers located in small university and laboratory a free, fast and easy access to the international level work.
• Will also help these researcher to quickly and efficiently distribute their work.
  
• Will help fastly spread the new development in experimental, analytical, numerical techniques in India.
• Will expose to researchers and industrialists of similar and diverse field.
• Will help in forming a networking of people and ideas to further develop science and technology in India.
  
• Can be used to keep and distribute the tutorial and other teaching material of plasma sciences.
• May serve/get some benefit for/from the Indian participant in the international fusion experiment, ITER.
  

Q. What is needed ?

Hardware :
-- Unix/Linux based machine with Internet connection.

Software:
-- Apatch, Perl and Eprints-software

Money:
-- For Server/Hardware/Internet -- (Do you have IT?)
-- For Software -- None.

Maintainaces ?
Volunteer --- (Are YOU ready ?)

Q. Who will do it ?

A decently large community of people interested and working in plasma physics has come together in the form of "Plasma Physics India Yahoo Group". Many of these people has shown a strong interest in the server. We believe, this group will provide a good volunteer and monetary support.

Q. Whome to Contact ?

Please do write us your Questions/Comment. You are more than welcome to contribute your time/knowledge/money to the effort. You may contact Deepak by email dpk011(at)yahoo(dot)com. As our volunteers base will increase we will have different people for specific task.

Disclaimer: All the views above are completely based on my own understanding of the project. This do not formally define the goals or path for the project. I believe, the project's journey will a dynamic one, and will follow the path which will be decided democratically by the volunteers and users of the project. ---Deepak