Exploring the development of the
independent, electronic, scholarly journal, by Alison
Wells
Advantages of electronic journals
Articles can be put on the Web as
soon as they are ready, without having to wait maybe
months for a space in a journal issue (Brown, 1997; Moret, 1997). The
American Chemical Society put articles on their Web
site "as soon as publishable" which can be up
to 11 weeks before print (Wilkinson, 1998). This all means that the information
is much more up-to-date than can be
achieved with paper (Neal, 1997).
Searchability is one of the core
advantages of a digital format (Neal, 1997), also Hitchcock et al.
(1998) argue that the easier it is to find research,
the fewer duplicated experiments
there will be, resulting in less wasted time.
However, Missingham (1999) raises the problem of information
overload, with information easier to find, there will
be much more to read and keep
up-to-date with.
The rapid turnaround time means
that articles can be read, commented on by the
journal's readers, and amended much more quickly than
can be done with print. The ease with which
e-mail can be sent, or forms filled in means that
there can be much greater feedback
through the Web.
Anderson (in Rowlinson) worries that with information converted to
digital formats, scholars in Third World countries
will be disadvantaged, however Ginsparg (1996), Brown (1997) and Neal (1997) all argue that it is far cheaper for
these researchers to get one computer with Internet
access than to subscribe to many journals, so
electronic journals will be a tool for "further
breaking down the barriers to democratic
research" (Brown, 1997). For
any researcher, availability from a desktop computer
means a significant increase in accessibility,
particularly for those who do not work within easy
reach of the library (Hitchcock et al.,
1998). Valauskas (1997) is also keen on the fact that entire
archives will be available, several people can read
an issue at once, and they cannot go missing. Also different
layers of access can be given to different
people with little extra effort, e.g. different
levels of subscription allowing access to abstracts
only, or full multimedia. (Hitchcock et al., 1998)
Links are the mainstay of the
hypertext format, and should be exploited. Not only
can papers link to those they have cited, but with a
bit of effort, they can be linked to those
that cite them. Sandewall (1997)
describes how in Electronic Transactions on
Artificial Intelligence they concentrate on the
bibliographic part of publishing, providing current,
specialised bibliographies for each of their topic
areas. Boyce (1997)
considers "the intrinsic value of the links [to
be] nearly as great as the content itself".
Rather than just recreate a print
journal in exact format, which many of the commercial
publishers are doing, advantage should be taken of
all the possibilities of the Web to add value, for
example by using animation, virtual reality
and interactive mathematical charts (Horoviak &
Seitter, 1997). Also a
large amount of supporting data can
be linked to from the article if the reader wanted to
look more deeply into the results. (Getz, 1997; Moret, 1997). Wilkinson (1998) gives the example of a "living
article" which could show the results
of an ongoing experiment, frequently updated.
This is a hotly debated point, with
Harnad (1996) claiming that a 70% saving over
print costs can be made, while Whisler (in Whisler &
Rosenblatt, 1997) argues
that only a 20% saving can be made as distribution
costs are a low proportion of the final journal
price, and even that saving will be eaten up by extra
costs caused by new features.
Moret (1997) sees e-journals being able to evolve
quickly as they are not tied to a format, printer or
distribution network.
Disadvantages of electronic
journals
- Difficulty reading
computer screens :
The main disadvantages of digital
information are the limitations of the
computer monitor. This leads to problems
with reading (Grenquist, 1997),
particularly over four or five screens, annotation (Raney, 1998) and portability (Moret, 1997). Although the ideal would be to read
information from the screen, I think that with
printing facilities, this ought not to be a huge
constraint on the development of e-journals, because
at the moment most people photocopy
library copies of journals before taking them away
anyway.
- Often not included in
indexing and abstracting services (Gessner, 1996)
- Archiving
The main considerations for
archiving of electronic journals are: (i) should the
publishers or libraries archive the digital data?
(ii) whose responsibility would it
be to upgrade old data to newer formats? and (iii) if
the publisher goes bust, or the editor of an
independent journal gets bored or leaves their
institution, what will happen to the archives? (Raney, 1998) Without satisfactory answers
to these questions, the role of the scholarly journal
as an archival record will be compromised.
Once printed, the details of a
paper journal remain constant, thus finding them
again is straightforward, however web sites
change their URLs or frequently disappear
altogether. (Raney, 1998)
Clarke (1998) worries about the "malleability
of content in electronic form" and Grenquist (1997) and Raney (1998) are
concerned about establishing the source and
authority of material in general, although I
think that e-journals will only survive if they can
convince readers of their credibility.
- Search engines ignore PDF
files, which is the format that a large
proportion of e-journals use, particularly those
which are direct copies of print versions.
References
Boyce, P. (1997). Electronic
publishing in astronomy. [http://tiepac.portlandpress.co.uk/books/online/tiepac/session1/ch3.htm].
Site visited at 16.4.99
Brown, S.A. (1997).
Scholarly publishing using electronic means : a short
guide. Newcastle : University of Northumbria at
Newcastle.
Gessner, A. (Spring
1996). The electronic journal : Is it becoming
academically respectable? [http://www.nyu.edu/acf/pubs/connect/spring96/LibGessEJnlSp96.html].
Site visited at 16.4.99
Getz, M. (May 1997).
Electronic publishing in academia : an economic
perspective [http://www.arl.org/scomm/scat/getz.html].
Site visited at 16.4.99
Ginsparg, P. (February
1996). Winners and losers in the global research
village [http://www.library.uiuc.edu/icsu/ginsparg.htm].
Site visited at 16.4.99
Grenquist, P.
(September 1997). "Why I don't read electronic
journals : an iconoclast speaks out", Journal of
Electronic Publishing, 3(1) [http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/03-01/Iconoclast.html].
Site visited at 16.4.99
Harnad, S. (1996).
Implementing peer review on the Net : Scientific
quality control in scholarly electronic journals. [http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad96.peer.review.html].
Site visited at 16.4.99
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
Horoviak, J. & Seitter,
K.L. (September 1997). "Transcending
the limitations of the printed page", Journal of
Electronic Publishing, 3(1). [http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/03-01/EI.html].
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
Moret, B.M.E. (September
1997). "Bridging the gap between theory and
practice", Journal of Electronic Publishing, 3(1).
[http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/03-01/JEA.html].
Site visited at 16.4.99
Neal, J.G. (April
1997). The use of electronic scholarly journals :
models of analysis drawn from the project Muse experience
at Johns Hopkins University. [http://www.arl.org/scomm/scat/neal.html].
Site visited at 16.4.99
Raney, R.K. (December
1998). "Into a glass darkly", Journal of
Electronic Publishing, 4(2). [http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/04-02/raney.html].
Site visited at 16.4.99
Rowlinson, C. The
future for scholarly publishing. [http://www.stir.ac.uk/tests/carolyn/speakers/anderson.htm].
Site visited at 16.4.99
Sandewall, E.
(1997). Cutting the pie in a new way : the case of
the Electronic Transactions on Artificial Intelligence.
[http://tiepac.portlandpress.co.uk/books/online/tiepac/session1/ch4.htm].
Site visited at 16.4.99
Valauskas, E.J.
(September 1997). "First Monday and the
evolution of electronic journals", Journal of
Electronic Publishing, 3(1). [http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/03-01/FirstMonday.html]
. Site visited at 16.4.99
Whisler, S. &
Rosenblatt, S.F. (April 1997). The
library and the University press : two views of the
current system of scholarly publishing. [http://www.arl.org/scomm/scat/rosenblatt.html].
Site visited at 16.4.99
Wilkinson, S.L. (May
1998). "Electronic publishing takes journals
into a new realm", Chemical and Engineering News,
18.5.98. [http://pubs.acs.org/hotartcl/cenear/980518/elec.html].
Site visited at 16.4.99
Title Page Next section
|