Electronic Journal Publishing: A Reader Version 2.0

Published by INASP, 2001

©INASP 2001

http://www.inasp.info

Foreword

Over the past seven years there have been dramatic changes in the scholarly communication environment which have affected journal publishing. Much emphasis has been placed on the potential and development of electronic format as a medium to provide advantages of ease of production, access and availability. There have been a number of significant conferences and workshops discussing issues pertaining to this. Unfortunately, to date, only a limited number of colleagues from developing and transitional countries have been able to participate in these events. Although there are still constraints to full Internet access in many developing countries, electronic publishing may offer journal publishers in these regions the opportunity to promote and disseminate the output from research in a more cost-effective, timely and efficient manner than print media. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that print format will continue to be needed.

INASP has been committed to supporting the enhancement and development of journals as part of its programme of activities since 1994. This has included involvement in the publication of the Handbook of Good Practice in Journal Publishing, and its related workshop programme. INASP prepared the first edition of this reader in electronic journal publishing in 1999 with the aim of providing a synthesis of key articles to help to bridge the `gap' in sharing of knowledge in this field. This completely revised edition aims to bring the reader up to date as possible in such a fast moving field. Briefly, the objectives are:

• to provide developing country colleagues with a synthesis of up to date information and state of the art know-how in the field of electronic journal publishing;
• to provide case study material on electronic publishing in developing countries from which others might learn.

We hope that the key articles and papers that have been identified so far are those which people will find useful and relevant. In this respect, we are particularly pleased to include the revised introductory essay, Getting Started, by Sally Morris.

We should like to encourage all those who obtain this reader to evaluate its usefulness and to provide us with critical comments, suggestions and, most of all, contributions for the future development of the reader into a more substantive volume.

Acknowledgements

First and foremost we wish to thank Dr Janet Hussein, Senior Editor of the Scientific Association of Zimbabwe, who brought together the revised collection of papers and Internet documents and also prepared a number of useful additional chapters. We wish to thank Sally Morris for her topical and well-researched paper. Her on-going communication and sharing of expertise and information from the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) helps to ensure that we are able to regularly revise the reader with the most up to date information. We also wish to acknowledge and thank all the authors and copyright holders of the documents included, and for their kind permission to reprint them in this reader. Their support and interest in sharing their work is much appreciated.

Carol Priestley
Director, INASP
Oxford
January 2001