Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
areproductsthataredeliveredandpaidforaspartofaresearchproject.Report
deadlines are a double-edged sword.They ensure a timely response to specific
policy questions but preclude careful attention to style.
The circulation of articles depends on the journal in which they appear. An
ethnographerinterestedinreachingthelargestpossibleaudiencewithinthegen-
eral boundaries of the topic will attempt to publish in a scholarly journal with a
largecirculation.Iftheaimissimplytoshareknowledgewithaverysmall,spe-
cialized group of scholars, highly specific journals are the best choice. In both
instances,theethnographermakestrade-offsintermsofexposureandimpactor
influence.Refereedjournalsaremorehighlyrespectedandprestigiousthannon-
refereed journals because they have built-in quality controls and publishing in
them is more difficult. Journal articles are usually copyrighted. The journal
holds the copyright, but the authors generally have the right to use the article in
any topic or collection they author or edit. Journal articles do not produce any
royalties unless they are reprinted in a topic. Such articles are less timely than
reports but more timely than topics. Manuscriptreviewforajournalarticleoften
takes from 1 to 3 months or more. Revisions, galley proofing, and general pro-
ductiontimemaydelaypublicationanother1to3months.Forthisreason,many
high-energyphysicistspreferonlinearticlestotraditionallypublishedarticles—
they need to keep up with rapid changes in their field.
Internet publishing represents an important contribution to scholarship. It
has become the norm in social science and medical research. Electronic jour-
nals may or may not be accompanied by a hard copy. However, most academ-
ics access their journals online instead of walking to the library. Almost all
the traditional journals are accessible online, including the
American
Anthropologist
,
Anthropology and Education Quarterly
,
Current Anthropology
,
and
Medical Anthropology
. The number of online scholarly journals has sky-
rocketed since this topic was last published. Refereed online journals, such as
Cultural Dynamics
,
Education Policy Analysis Archives
,
Journal of World
Anthropology
,
Journal of World Systems
, and
Qualitative Report,
represent
accepted vehicles for sharing ethnographic insights and findings in real time.
Articles can be reviewed by a larger number of colleagues in a much shorter
period of time using e-mail. In addition, articles can be published electroni-
cally much quicker than they can in traditional media. Colleagues can critique
these electronically published pieces more rapidly, which allows authors to
revise their work in less time than it would take to publish an original docu-
ment traditionally. Moreover, the cost of electronic publication allows many
journals to be accessed without cost to readers. This medium also enables
authorstopublishtheirrawdata,includingtheirinterviews,linkedtothesame
“page”; this allows the readers to analyze the data immediately for themselves
and sort the same data in other ways depending on their own theoretical
