Cabanac, G. (2015). On the dead link issue in academic papers. Learned Publishing, 28, 4, 326. doi:10.1087/20150414

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On the dead link issue in academic papers
Letter to the Editor


Dear Editor,

I enjoyed reading your July Editorial in Learned Publishing. Dealing with the 'dead link' issue is indeed of paramount importance. As you note on page 164, the Internet Archive sustains webpages -- but the specific one we are looking for is nowhere to be found most of the time.

Nevertheless, there is one option on this website that will prove helpful. Anyone can ask the Archive to index and preserve any URL. Here is an example:

   1. Connect to http://archive.org/web/.

   2. Paste an URL in the 'Save Page Now' box.
   
   3. Click on 'Save Page'.

   4. Copy the URL provided by the archive

This preserves an exact copy of the website at the time you asked the archive to index it.

I believe researchers should use this feature to include robust links (or at least links to sustained contents) in their publications. URL-shortening services can be used to reduce the length of such links (e.g. http://bit.ly/1O6pZ0n). Researchers should select a service that releases the mappings (long -> short) in case it goes offline (see https://archive.org/details/301works&tab=about).

An alternative service to the Internet Archive is https://perma.cc -- but it asks you to create an account.

Best regards,

Guillaume CABANAC
Computer Science Department
IRIT UMR 5505 CNRS
University of Toulouse
France http://www.irit.fr/~Guillaume.Cabanac

Email: guillaume.cabanac@univ-tlse3.fr