From: John Cox <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:23:51 +0100 Limiting contributions to an .edu address will restrict postings to faculty at US universities that use their institutional e-mail address. Many countries have a different suffix for universities, and also have to include a code for the country - e.g. in the UK the equivalent suffix is .ac.uk, in Australia it is .edu.au, and in Germany it is simply .de. Scholarship, research and publishing are international activities, of which the US universities are a major part, but only a part of the picture. John Cox Rookwood, Bradden Towcester NN12 8ED United Kingdom E-mail: [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Ken Masters <[log in to unmask]> Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 08:02:43 +0400 Hi All Kevin, in spite of some reservations (including some of the issues I raised), I think that, if you have the resources, you should try to do this. Perhaps you could begin by drafting a guiding policy, with noted problem areas, and it could be circulated on this list. Those interested can comment, bringing in their experience from other lists and sites. One thing about a suggestion you made: limiting contributions to those with an .edu email address. I think this would be very bad. There are many reasons that respected researchers do not have an edu address. One of them is that they move around and do not wish to have to change their email address every time they move. Or they may be in companies, or "retired", or.....Also, many researchers work at institutions with poor IT infrastructure, and so use gmail or yahoo accounts. As a fair number would be in developing countries, you'll be on a sticky wicket before you even start. Regards Ken ------ Dr. Ken Masters Asst. Professor: Medical Informatics Medical Education Unit College of Medicine & Health Sciences Sultan Qaboos University