Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
4.1.1 Implementation and Distribution
E-journals vary in their implementation and distribution. For example, McEl-
downey
[35]
refers to e-journals as journals accessed through communication tech-
nology. Schauder
[50]
considers projects like ADONIS,
16
which is implemented on
CD-ROM to be an example of e-journals. Other online journals are distributed us-
ing shared databases, e-mail attachments, listserves, and FTP. Since the late 1990s,
e-journals are principally distributed on the World Wide Web (WWW).
4.1.2 Forms
Articles are published in various forms such as ASCII and text, Word documents,
HTML, and PDF. Some e-journals are purely electronic while many are hybrid;
that is, published in both print and electronic form (Section
4.2.2
). Long Standing
commercial examples include Kluwer On-line (now part of SpringerLink), JSTOR,
and Muse
[44]
. Professional Society examples are the Association for Computing
Machinery (ACM), which offers its Digital Library and the Institute for Operations
Research and Management Science (INFORMS). These versions are also referred to
as electronic editions
[22]
. Among pure e-journals, a few are managed by commer-
cial publishers (e.g.,
Online of Current Clinical Trials
[44]
). Other pure e-journals
are managed by professional societies (e.g.,
Communications of the Association for
Information Systems
) or by entrepreneurial ventures (e.g.,
Philosophical Foundations
of Information Systems
).
Within the category of pure e-journals, some use full electronicity (capabilities of
the media), offering new forms of publications while others only use the e-media
as a distribution mechanism. In the latter, articles look and feel like paper but are
digitized and delivered electronically.
4.1.3 Business Models
Most commercial publishers use their paper journals infrastructure to support their
electronic counterparts. Some commercial publishers charge an additional 10 to 20%
of the subscription for access to both paper and digital versions of the same jour-
nal. Professional societies that produce one or more electronic journals for their
members, usually bundle subscription to one journal with their membership fees.
Members have the option of purchasing additional subscriptions at a going rate. Fi-
nally, some e-journals are supported by entrepreneurial ventures. These ventures are
often run by university research centers or by individual scholars, and are free of
16
ADONIS is part of an electronic publishing initiative developed by a consortium of well-
established scientific, technical, and medical publishers
[50]
(see
http://www.rose-net.co.ir/products/
PRODUCTS1/ADONIS/ejs.htm
[accessed June 15th, 2005].
