Academic Electronic Journals: Past, Present, and Future - Advances in Computers - page 161

F IG . 4. Percentage of e-journals that are peer reviewed.
F IG . 5. Paid versus reviewed e-journals.
The open access movement is a noble idea. However, establishing reputation
and prestige incurs costs. Prestige is often associated with price. 44 Therefore,
the concept of free e-journals adds to the perceptions of lower quality.
Fifty five percent of e-journals are not peer reviewed ( Fig. 4 ) supporting the
prevailing assumption that e-journals are of lower quality. Data gathered by the
first author shows that 45 ( Fig. 5 ):
1. Only eleven percent of all e-journals are free and peer-reviewed.
2. Only seventeen percent of the free e-journals are peer reviewed.
3. Only twenty three percent of peer-reviewed e-journals are free.
The existence of a large number of free non-reviewed e-journals supports
Sweeney's [51] findings that e-journals are believed to be of lesser quality than other
journals.
44 For example, one would rarely find a multi-millionaire shopping at a discount store. The price tag on
an item adds to its perceived quality although it might have been manufactured at the same plant as its
less expensive counterpart.
45 This analysis is based on the electronic journals listed in the Miner at the Colorado Alliance of Re-
search libraries ( http://www.coalliance.org/ consulted May 2005).