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If I present my results on YouTube before I write a paper, does this cause any problems for publishing them in a journal later?

I guess this would be similar to giving a talk or writing a preprint, but I am not sure.

The area is discrete optimization, so somewhere between applied maths and computer science.

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    In many fields, discussing your ideas in conferences before writing them up (or actually, before finalizing them) is completely normal. So I wouldn't see more of an issue here than for any conference talk. (Bonus: if someone sees an issue with YouTube, but not with a conference talk, how would you think about a conference talk that is recorded and put on YouTube?) Commented 2 days ago
  • @Aruralreader I want to create something easily accessible, even for students. I am not a professional academic any more, and creating a video is also much more fun than writing a dry paper. But still, at some point I want to write it all down to publish it in a traditional way, especially to get feedback from the scientific community. Commented 2 days ago

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In mathematics (and adjacent areas of computer science), communicating your results via informal channels prior to formal publication is common and does not constitute an obstacle for later publication.

While I haven't encountered tailor-made Youtube videos announcing novel math research, it is not that rare for conference talks to be recorded and uploaded to Youtube. I don't see any feature of Youtube videos which could cause issues beyond conference talks and preprints.

There are two caveats to early announcements: One, if you haven't even written the paper yet, you might want to be somewhat sceptical of your results. Two, once you've put your work out there, it's fair game for others to built upon. So if you take too long to formally publish, someone else might improve upon your work (citing the Youtube video) and publish the improved result. This might make your own result much harder to publish.

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  • ... and even if that other paper cites your YouTube video, it won't increase your h index... Commented 2 days ago
  • Actually, I would be very happy if others build upon my work. Commented yesterday
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    @Arno I totally understood that, sorry for being imprecise. I just wanted to say that I would not mind if I could not publish because someone else published some improved version. I would only mind if something could not be published AT ALL in a journal because it was already on YouTube. I don't need grants or tenure, so I don't care if there is my name attached to the results or the name of someone else. Commented yesterday
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    And if you're famous enough, you don't even have to write a paper and people will cite the recording of your talk. Commented yesterday
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    For an example of announcing novel mathematics research via a Youtube video, Eric Rowland has done so at least once, with a video describing novel results around Sinkhorn limits released at the same time as the paper documenting its ideas. Commented yesterday
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In general, this is fundamentally a legal question rather than an academic one. Most copyright systems only cover material which has been fixed, “printed” or published, so an off-the-cuff talk will likely create a different set of issues from a pre-written recording, especially one which followed the text of the submitted paper closely and thus showed most evidence of “copying” between the two, but you’d need to talk to a copyright lawyer to sort out the nuances.

From the journal’s side it will all depend to a great extent on the licensing system they use (or that you choose to use). If you assign them copyright and they demand true exclusivity, then there could be some theoretical problems Whether any journal would actually attempt to enforce their rights would depend on whether there was any actual chance of money on the case, as well as if there is a business model left to protect.

Edit: For those querying how copyright could be relevant, consider the case where the video is essentially an ”audiobook” of the paper, while the image shows the figures. A pure change of medium isn’t always transformative enough to avoid a potential liability.

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    Why do you think copyright is relevant here at all? Copyright would affect the video itself, not its intellectual content; a paper to be published would not be a copy of that video. Commented 2 days ago
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    Copyright issues are utterly irrelevant here. A math paper is so different from the transcript of a video that there is no concern at all. Commented 2 days ago
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    @user151413 The copyright on the video and the copyright on the paper are entirely separate. Commented yesterday
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    @Arno That’s not exactly how the law around derivative works(copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p22_derivative_works) generally works. There is a copyright on the expression of the core idea of the paper, which is what journals could ask you to transfer to them (hence covering e.g. previous drafts). Commented yesterday
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    While it is true that a "mere" change of medium is not enough to avoid copyright claims (and such a change is something bad actors sometimes do), a good video presentation and a good paper have such major differences in presentation and audience that this only becomes an issue if you make a video that should have been a paper or vice versa. If the video is an "audiobook" of the paper, what was the point of making the video? Commented yesterday

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