Electronic Dissertations Library

Exploring the development of the independent, electronic, scholarly journal, by Alison Wells

Electronic journals - the future?

Harnad (9.5.99) defines the "ideal online resource for scholars and scientists" as "all papers in all fields, systematically interconnected, effortlessly accessible and rationally navigable from any researcher's desk worldwide, for free." The only way that this can be achieved is by using the power of computers and the Internet.

Odlyzko (17.1.99) claims that the "evolution of scholarly communication to an electronic format is driven by two main factors (i) potential cost savings and (ii) attractive new features". Hitchcock et al. (1998) see the primary motivations for e-journals as different for each entity in the communication process:

• Publishers: adding value to journals.
• Librarians: improved information retrieval.
• Users: faster more direct access to information, and the ability to act on information.

Missingham (1999) sees the following trends in scientific information:

• continued expansion in publishing, particularly in e-journals
• rise of the Web as a delivery tool
• move to desktop / universal access
• plethora of interfaces
• decrease in the importance of print
• changing costs : there will be a large upfront investment in hardware and software costs which should decrease rapidly over time.

Will the electronic journal revolution affect all disciplines equally? Eason et al. (1997) attempt to answer that question by looking at individual disciplines and the important distinguishing features that relate to electronic publishing. They categorised some of the disciplines as follows:

1. Activists - these use a common cluster of journals and already use a lot of electronic services, for example: chemistry.
2. Experimentalists - these disciplines are very fragmented although they too use electronic services, for example: archaeology.
3. Mature traditionalists - use electronic journals as a document delivery service, rather than to add new features, for example: library and information science.
4. IT competent lone scholars - do not belong to large communities with common interests, difficult to deliver a relevant service to a variable population, for example: astronomy.
5. High potential laggards - the potential is there to make use of new electronic features and services in a large community with common interests, but few people with knowledge to make use of them, for example: PE and Sports science.
6. High potential isolates - has potential to make use of multi-media etc., but dispersed community with idiosyncratic needs, for example: performing arts.
7. Untapped communities - a community with common interests which sees no need for electronic services, and lacks the skills to implement them, for example: law.
8. Low potential isolates - scattered community of lone scholars dealing mainly in text, for example: history.

This seems to imply that there may soon become a wide gulf in journal provision between disciplines such as history and classics; and sciences. I do not think that this matters as the cultures between the disciplines are so different, with humanities scholars often aiming towards having their work published in book form and the scientists mainly interested in journals, that this is bound to happen. The current crisis in journal prices also generally affects scientific journals, rather than arts or humanities ones.

Before advocating a wholesale move to electronic journals, we must look at:

• The advantages and disadvantages of paper journals
• The advantages and disadvantages of electronic journals
• Possible future trends for electronic journals

References

Eason, K. et. al. (1997). A comparative analysis of the role of multi-media electronic journals in scholarly disciplines. [http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/papers/tavistock/eason/eason.html] Site visited at 22.6.99

Harnad, S. (9.5.99). Response to the "Scholar's Forum" proposal. [http://library.caltech.edu/publications/ScholarsForum/090599sharnad.htm]. Site visited at 15.7.99

Hitchcock, S., Carr, L. & Hall, W. (December 1998). Making the most of electronic journals. [http://xxx.lanl.gov/html/cs.DL/9812016]. Site visited at 16.4.99

Missingham, R. (January 1999). Science and technology : a web of information : impact of the electronic present and future on scientists and libraries. [http://www.csu.edu.au/special/online99/proceedings99/205a.htm]. Site visited at 16.4.99

Odlyzko, A. (17.1.99). The evolution of electronic scholarly communication. [http://www.research.att.com/~amo/doc/evolution.communications.txt]. Site visited at 16.4.99

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