Today the electronic journals stand in complementary relationship to the standard journals. As their potential is realized, we believe they will supplant the standard journals as the medium of choice. This will happen for five reasons. First, the technology permits the rapid and painless submission of articles and reviews. The numerous and onerous submission requirements typically found in paper journals are eliminated. Electronic journal sites on the internet automatically guide authors through submission, alert the editors to new submissions and set up the process of review. Second, submissions can be quickly channeled to several individuals who are part of or newly added to our international pool of reviewers and whose accomplishments enable them to comment on the author’s work. This review process is orchestrated by an editor and also consists of constructive exchanges between the reviewers and the author for the development of the article rather than simply acceptance or rejection. Third, electronic journals are not static. Published articles invite comments and further reviews that can be posted with the original article on the web site and, hence, provide an open forum moderated by an editor. Communication between those in debate stands in parity with the development of the discipline. Further, interactive materials consisting of uploaded data, expanded illustrations, dynamic graphics, video and film clips, soundtracks, and interactive software can be made accessible from the links in the article itself, and references can link to permanently accessible offsite resources. Fourth, subscribed readers of the electronic journal can be notified when articles in their areas of interest appear and can thus be assisted in their search for pertinent materials, including those cited in the numerous paper journals by our authors. Readers can electronically transfer and collect key articles in their subfields. And, fifth, electronic publications and related materials can be offered free of charge when the infrastructural investment has already been made by an educational institution such as the University of California. This makes it possible to freely and widely disseminate research articles to colleagues and students. For this great boon, Structure and Dynamics in particular is much indebted to and appreciative of the Berkeley Electronic Press, the UC Office of the President and UC eScholarship, the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences at UC Irvine, members of our focused research group in Social Dynamics and Evolution, and to all our reviewers.
(Thanks to Leslie Chan.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 9/23/2005 04:21:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
