Several groups are poised to distribute refereed periodicals over computer networks. If the experiments are successful, they may stimulate a major shift in the nature of scholarly communication.
For more than a decade, electronic journals -- periodicals that are distributed over computer networks -- have operated on the periphery of academe, largely spurned by authors, publishers, and readers as no match for the traditional printed journal.
Today, however, several scientific organizations are about to introduce refereed electronic journals aimed at wide audiences in mathematics and the sciences.
Supporters of electronic journals hope that a successful product by any one of these organizations will help catapult the journals out of obscurity and force publishers to take the medium seriously.
“It’s a race,” says Patricia A. Morgan, director of publications for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which has announced that it will publish an electronic journal but has declined to identify its subject. “We want to be first,” she says.
Existing electronic journals are composed of text just like paper journals, but they are read on a computer screen. The journals, which do not have illustrations, are transmitted over computer networks.
The AAAS sees certain advantages in issuing a peer-reviewed publication for the sciences ahead of such other organizations as the American Mathematical Society or the American Chemical Society, both of which say they are interested in producing an electronic journal that contains charts, tables and other graphic material. But some of those organizations say that, while they would like to succeed as quickly as possible, they see little benefit in being first.
“There are certain risks associated with being a pioneer,” says Lorrin R. Garson, head of research and development for the chemical society. “We were the first in putting up a full-text data base almost 10 years ago, and we haven’t really recovered any of the costs yet.”
Thus far, electronic journals have not lived up to the medium’s potential for changing the nature of scholarly publishing. “I think designers are indeed prisoners of history,” says Mr. Garson, explaining that some publishers may feel compelled simply to replicate a paper journal on a computer screen.
This attitude, some say, ignores the electronic medium’s ability to let readers provide instant feedback to authors.
At present, there are six peer-reviewed scholarly journals -- all in the humanities and social sciences -- available on Bitnet and Internet, according to the Association of Research Libraries, which just issued a Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters, and Academic Discussion Lists. The journals are EJournal, Electronic Journal of Communication, Journal of the International Academy of Hospitality Research, New Horizons in Adult Education, Postmodern Culture, and Psycoloquy.
The fact that there are so few scholarly electronic journals may be due in part to computer and network technology.
The current generation of electronic journals is designed for slow, low-powered computers that cannot display color. The limitations have prohibited the use of graphics -- a major reason that there is not yet a peer-reviewed science journal.
Today, however, many academics have access to relatively inexpensive but powerful computers capable of interpreting transmitted graphic material in a reasonable amount of time. The developers of the new generation of electronic journals hope the more sophisticated programs and increased power of the machines will allow them to offer illustrations and mathematical notation, for example, along with text.
In general, electronic journals have copied the structure and process used by their paper cousins. Writers submit articles to editors, who send them to referees, usually electronically. The referees return their comments to the editor, who sends them to the authors electronically. When articles are ready for publication, the editors send them to a list server, a computer with a program that makes electronic copies and distributes the journals by electronic mail. Subscribers can read the journal on a computer screen, store it in their own computer, or make a paper copy.
Although there are other ways to transmit electronic journals, publishers and readers of scholarly journals generally use Bitnet, an academic computing network, and Internet, a worldwide “network of networks.” Essentially, the services of these networks are free, because they are federally subsidized.
Although they have much in common with print journals, the existing electronic journals do have different goals.
“They’re very altruistic and experimental,” says Ann Okerson, director of ARL’s Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing. “They’ve usually done what they’ve done without direct university funding or support.”
While “they appear to imitate paper journals to the naked eye, editors have a mission beyond that -- quick, interactive, collaborative work, which you can’t do in a paper journal,” says Ms. Okerson. “It is a different vision of what scholarly communication can be.”
Supporters see a time when a refereed article in an electronic journal will receive an instant critique from readers, and the critiques themselves will become part of the journal, in some cases after themselves going through a review process.
One journal that has embraced this idea is Psycoloquy, which practices what Stevan Harnad, its co-editor, calls scholarly “sky writing.” Submissions, a brief account of ideas or conclusions, are sent to the list server after they are reviewed by an editorial-board member. The goal, says Mr. Harnad, is to get immediate feedback from experts while the idea is fresh, and to share that feedback.
Some observers say Mr. Harnad’s approach ignores the traditional requirements of academe.
“_Psycoloquy does not really offer archival-quality, primary-journal articles. It appears to be just a little more formalized than an electronic bulletin board,” says one reader, who requested anonymity.
Some electronic journals, say readers, are just copies of their printed cousins. “They’re basically just mimicking the paper journal,” says Kip Canfield, an assistant professor in the Department of Information Systems at the University of Maryland at College Park, who has perused issues of both
Postmodern Culture and EJournal.
Mr. Canfield acknowledges, however, that editors must package their products with a conservative sheen. “Let’s say I’m looking for tenure, and I’ve got something I want to publish,” he explains. “If I think that’s some of my best work, I’d be reluctant to submit it to an electronic journal. The tenure committee might not consider it of the same caliber as an established journal.”
Ms. Morgan of the AAAS says this cultural barrier is a key factor causing electronic journals to languish. “Journals are an integral part of the reward system” in academe, she explains. “Jobs, tenure, promotion, and grants all depend on publishing.”
Because quality papers are hard to find in electronic journals, says Ms. Morgan, readership is limited. Limited readership, she adds, translates into limited acceptance.
John Unsworth, co-editor of
Postmodern Culture, says some authors and librarians are concerned about the somewhat ethereal nature of the electronic medium.
Authors, he says, are terrified of the electronic journal’s apparent transience. Libraries hold paper journals on their shelves for archiving purposes; so even if the publisher were to go out of business, future scholars would still have access to back issues. There is concern that an article published in an electronic journal would die with the publication.
“I think libraries will have to provide archiving for electronic journals in the future,” says Mr. Unsworth.
Concern over copyright is an issue of special interest to publishers--especially commercial ones.
Unlike their paper counterparts, electronic journals do not want exclusive copyright. They allow authors to retain control of their materials, encouraging the free exchange of information. This attitude results in the reproduction of articles and, occasionally, entire issues on the networks.
Some involved with electronic journals see the copyright issue not as a problem, but as a protective barrier.
The big fear among today’s electronic-journal editors, say several of them, is that commercial publishers will take over the market that has been developed by the non-profit journals, just as commercial publishers have absorbed print journals over the last two decades. “I think the present system is poised to swallow up electronic publishing,” says Mr. Unsworth.
Commercial publishers, however, do not believe such a market exists, according to Karen Hunter, a vice-president of Elsevier Science Publishers BV, the largest scientific-journal publisher in the world. “I’m sure there are people who want to communicate and are communicating this way. The question is how large is that group, and how much of it is mainstream versus a few pioneers,” she says.
The problem remains that electronic journals are user-unfriendly, says Ms. Hunter. “It still takes a fairly high level of dedicated determination to use one. It’s just not a convenient mode yet.”
Even so, the AAAS is going ahead with its plans for a scientific journal. According to Ms. Morgan, the association thinks enough researchers are familiar with electronic communication and have access to sufficiently powerful computer equipment to offer such a publication successfully. She says the AAAS, which is working with the Online Computer Library Center on distribution of the new publication, hopes a success in this arena will increase her organization’s influence and stature in the world of publishing.
Other electronic-journal editors are hopeful that a publishing success by a large scientific organization such as the AAAS will boost their own credibility with scholars. “A success would help from the point of visibility,” says Mr. Unsworth of
Postmodern Culture. “People would know that there are journals in other than paper form. And it would reassure authors about the feasibility and legitimacy of publishing in this medium.”
While Ms. Morgan says hers is an extremely high-risk venture, other organizations are convinced that the time is right for electronic publication.
The American Mathematical Society, with assistance from the National Science Foundation, hopes to distribute an electronic journal soon with mathematical formulas, says David L. Rodgers, who manages the society’s computer-systems department.
However, he says, “If electronic journals are to be successful, they will have to offer compellingly superior capabilities to paper as a tool for organizing, reporting, and archiving knowledge, along with lower production and distribution costs.”
According to Ms. Morgan, the cost of operating a peer-reviewed journal, whether print or electronic, is about the same. With an electronic journal, “you’d see savings in paper and postage, but expenditures on software development would probably eat up those savings,” she says. “Also, somebody has got to pay for archiving, storing, and maintaining the system.”
In addition, says Ms. Morgan, transmission on Bitnet and Internet will not be subsidized forever.
The fact that print journals are actually an effective means of communication must be acknowledged, says Ms. Morgan. “Then you have to say I can do all that, plus some things you can’t do with a paper journal.”
Eventually, she predicts, electronic journals will offer faster delivery, animation, video images, and sound recordings.
In the meantime, electronic journals must overcome the difficulties with the technology. The best journal in the world is worthless if the target audience thinks it is too much trouble to read, says Ms. Morgan. “First, you’ve got to get them to turn the computer on and look.”
EJournal, first published in April, discusses the problems and opportunities presented by electronic text. The format breaks with that of the traditional paper journal in that the essays are brief.
The first issue was sent to about 400 subscribers, as well as to many other readers who have access to information on the networks, according to the editor, Edward M. Jennings, an assistant professor of English at the State University of New York at Albany.
For more information, contact Edward M. Jennings, Department of English, State University of New York, Albany, N.Y. 12222; (518) 442-4091; EJOURNAL@ALBNYVMS.
Electronic Journal of Communication/La Revue Electronique de Communication, which has published one issue in its first year, covers communications studies.
Parts of the journal -- all article titles and abstracts and some articles -- are bilingual. Editing is shared by James Winter, an associate professor of communications studies at the University of Windsor, who speaks English, and Claude Martin, a professor in the communications department at the University of Montreal, who speaks French.
The journal has about 230 subscribers.
For more information, contact James Winter, Department of Communication Studies, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3PA, Canada; (519) 253-4232; WINTER@UCC.UWINDSOR.CA.
Journal of the International Academy of Hospitality Research, published since November 1990, includes research on tourism.
This publication, edited by Mahmood Khan, a professor in the Department of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, is the only one of the six peer-reviewed scholarly journals that is not free. It charges $30 annually for institutions and $10 for individuals. Fifty-six libraries and 40 individuals have subscriptions.
For more information, contact Scholarly Communications Project, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1700 Pratt Drive, Blacksburg, Va. 24061-0506; (703) 231-5515; JIAHRED@VTVM1 OR JIAHRED@CC.VT.EDU.
New Horizons in Adult Education, published since 1987 by graduate students at Syracuse University, claims to be the first electronic, peer-reviewed scholarly journal.
“There were other publication ventures that began before us, but they never produced an issue,” says the editor, Linda T. Newell, an adult-education major.
The journal, which is supported by the Kellogg Project at Syracuse, is distributed to about 1,000 individuals, a number comparable to the major paper journals in the field, according to the editor.
For more information, contact Adult Education Network, Syracuse University Kellogg Project, 310 Lyman Hall, 108 College Place, Syracuse, N.Y. 13244-1270; (315)443-1095; HORIZONS@SUVM.
Postmodern Culture, published since September 1990 at North Carolina State University, includes essays and other materials on inter-disciplinary studies.
The journal issues copies on floppy disks and microfiche. Its co-editors, John Unsworth and Eyal Amiran, both assistant professors of English, say microfiche copies are necessary to attract serious papers.
About 1,150 of the journal’s subscriptions are sent over the networks, while 50 copies are delivered in a less transient form.
For more information, contact Postmodern Culture, North Carolina State University, Box 8105, Raleigh, N.C. 27695; (919) 737-2011; PMC@NCSUVM.NCSU.EDU.
Psycoloquy began in 1985 as an electronic “bulletin board” called Bitnet Psychology Newsletter. In 1989, co-editor Stevan Harnad, who is a visiting fellow at Princeton University, helped transform Psycoloquy into a journal, with the goal of implementing peer review on the networks for articles on psychology and related topics.
Today the electronic journal has thousands of subscribers. An accurate count is impossible, because some people receive copies through a computer program that does not count the number of recipients, says Mr. Harnad.
For more information, contact Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 20 Nassau Street, No. 240, Princeton, N.J. 08542; (609) 258-4442; HARNAD@CLARITY.PRINCETON.EDU or HARNAD@PUCC.BITNET.