A question that covers all forms of writing. There is a certain belief that self-publishing is a less credible form of publishing than being published by agencies such as universities, publishing houses and different journals and magazines, all of which present barriers.
But is that belief an accurate estimate of quality?
As much as I flow with Dr Paul contributions, it depends on the author and the availability of specialist in that field.
Collaboration should be encouraged where coauthors have meaningful contributions to contribute. Self author is not a bad idea depending on the level of understanding of the author.
In this instance, I was looking at the wider field-
Usually Self-publication is seen as cutting corners. Say you have a good idea but publishers believe it to be un-commercial, do you shelf it or continue working on it and publish it yourself knowing that without proper publicity it will probably not do well? This is just one example.
Many famous writers originally self-published, as did many well-known philosophers. Nevertheless, the original response to the question is fine!
It seems to me that the more people self-publish, the more good "stuff" will be "out there". Some of it may well be very good (or even the best) "stuff".
I believe that, if this occurred, the peer-reviewed journals would be greatly challenged in many useful ways (types of Articles, length of Articles, pure extensive position papers -- MANY potentially VERY good things that are disallowed now ! )
[ P.S. I "self-publish" here on researchgate and believe I have come up with a perspective and approach to PSYCHOLOGY which would make it as much of a science ("natural" science) as ANYTHING else. My approach and perspective also sees behavior patterns (ALL of them) expressly and completely as biological functioning -- which, of course, they ARE); just this last-mentioned aspect clearly hints that there may well be something good about my approach/perspective. ... ... Barely a single portion of my writing would have been or has been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal: if only because my papers are long, topics are new, the papers theoretical, and because I am an individual with a significantly new approach -- all such things are effectively "dead" to peer-reviewed journals. ]
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