Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
6 . 1 E d i t o r s o f E - J o u r n a l s
An argument made by some people, particularly those who believe that e-journals
should be free, is that many administrative, marketing, and editing functions per-
formed by professionals in publishing houses should be transferred to the academics
who serve as editors. While a romantic notion, the idea does not match reality. Here
are some of the reasons:
1. Journal editors are senior academics who teach, do research, and even some
service functions in addition to running the journal. Many editors do some of
the work in the evenings, on the weekend, and on plane flights. They insist
on an honorarium, even a small one, since they follow the dictum that what is
worth doing is worth doing for money.
2. Senior academics are paid much more than administrative staff, yet are much
further down the learning curve. They are therefore not cost-effective by any
measure.
3. Many scholars are inexperienced with the processes required to accomplish
administrative tasks. Interviews with several editors of e-journals, conducted
by the first author over a period of five years indicate that most editors know
little about the mechanics or the importance of promoting their journals through
abstracting and indexing services. Similarly, many assume that e-journals can
not be included in some of the citation impact data bases when in fact they can
be.
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4. The assumption that administrative tasks can be transferred to the editor, edi-
torial boards or other senior scholars is misleading. Senior scholars get some
credit for scholarly activities related to academic journals (e.g., reviewing, as-
sociate editors). However, administrative activities almost never receive any
credit.
Therefore, the conjecture that e-journals can be as successful as paper journals
without the support staff (and the cost associated with it) is also misleading.
6.1.1
An Example
The following example illustrates some of the administrative steps taken by the
editors of
Communications of AIS
(CAIS) to ensure its success, reputation, and brand
name recognition:
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In an interview with a senior executive of Information Science Institute (ISI), a premier indexing ser-
vice, it was made clear that electronic journals that publish high quality papers consistently are considered
for indexing. ISI does not require paper versions of articles nor does it require a traditional volume/issue
type publication cycle. ISI is a division of Thompson Publishing
(
http://www.isinet.com/
)
.
