Recently, I gave some reasons for SIAI to begin publishing in mainstream journals, and outlined how it could be done.
I've recently been made aware of some pretty good reasons for SIAI to not publish in mainstream journals, so here they are:
Articles published to websites (e.g. Yudkowsky's work, Bostrom's pre-prints) seem to have gotten more attention, and had more positive impact, than their in-journal counterparts.
Articles in mainstream journals take a relatively large amount of time, money, and expertise to produce.
Articles in mainstream journals must jump through lots of hoops - journals' aversion to novelty, reviewer bias, etc.
It is easier to simply collaborate with (and greatly influence) established mainstream academics who have already jumped through mainstream academia's many hoops (as Carl Shulman has been doing, for example).
I still think there are strong reasons to publish articles in standard academic form (for readability purposes), but I've recently updated hugely toward SIAI not publishing in mainstream journals.
Many of Eliezer's papers weren't published for mainstream academia, and still had large impact.
It's harder to jump through mainstream academia publishing hoops than to publish directly, and Bostrom's impact from publishing preprints directly seems to have been larger than people who happen to subscribe to those particular journals.
Recently, I gave some reasons for SIAI to begin publishing in mainstream journals, and outlined how it could be done.
I've recently been made aware of some pretty good reasons for SIAI to not publish in mainstream journals, so here they are: