DOCUMENT RESUME ED 384 353 IR 055 528 AUTHOR Okerson, Ann Shumelda, Ed.; O'Donnell, James J., Ed. TITLE Scholarly Journals at the Crossroads: A Subversive Proposal for Electronic Publishing. An Internet Discussion about Scientific and Scholarly Journals and Their Future. INSTITUTION Association of Research Libraries, Washington, D.C. Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing. REPORT NO ISBN-0-918006-26-0 PUB DATE Jun 95 NOTE 254p. AVAILABLE FP.OMAssociation of Research Libraries, Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing, 21 Dupont Circle, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036 (ARL members: $15; others: $20; plus $5 shipping and handling). PUB TYPE Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.) (120) Reports Evaluative/Feasibility (142) EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PC11 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Computer Mediated Communication; Computer Networks; Costs; Discussion Groups; Electronic Mail; *Electronic Publishing;'*Futures (of Society); Online Systems; Problems; Publishing Industry;''Scholarly Journals; *Scientific and Technical Information; Strategic Planning IDENTIFIERS Information Infrastructure; *Internet; Paradigm Shifts ABSTRACT This document presents an Internet discussion that took place on a number of electronic forums about scientific and scholarly journals and their future. Six principle discussants and about two dozen others advance both radical and traditional views. Topics include housing a comprehensive scientific electronic publishing system, responsibility for scientific and scholarly findings, costs, suggestions and strategies, electronic journal publishing and infrastructure investments, the transition to electronic journals, implementing online journals for university researchers, problems of electronic publishing, distinguishing publishing from other forms of network-public discourse, journal publishing systems and models, format, economics and submissions, the collapse of traditional journals, and citations and citation frequency. Included are a "hyperlink" bibliography showing where materials mentioned in the document can be read on the Internet, and a glossary of terms'.(AEF) ********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** UAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 0 This document has been reproduced as we,wed trom the person or organization originating it 0 Minor changes have been made to improve ,eotocluchOn quality Points of view or Opinions staled .n INS docu ment do not necessarily represent official OFR! position or policy (Co!) Sc11(341arl)T Journals E at the Crossroads:. A Subversive Proposal for Electronic Publishing An Internet Discussion about Scientific and Scholarly Journals and Their Future Edited by Ann Shumelda Okerson Office of Scientific and Academic Publishing Association of Research Libraries James J. O'Donnell Department of Classical Studies University of Pennsylvania "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY BEST COPY AVAILABLE C.A. Mandel TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC).- Scholarly Journals at the Crossroads: A Subversive Proposal for Electronic Publishing An Internet Discussion about Scientific and Scholarly Journals and Their Future Edited by Ann Shumelda Okerson Office of Scientific & Academic Publishing Association of Research Libraries James J. O'Donnell Department of Classical Studies University of Pennsylvania Office ,,f Scientific & Academic Publishing Assoc' 'ion of Research Libraries June 1995 ISBN: 0-918006-26-0 Copyright 1995 © ARL Office of Scientific & Academic Publishing Association of Research Libraries 21 Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036 202-296-2296 (phone) 202-872-0884 (fax) [email protected] 0 Thepaper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences--Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. 4 Acknowledgments A large part of the preliminary and not inconsiderable work of making the ftp archives of the "subversive discussion" was done by Colleen Wirth, Department of Mathematics, Princeton University, Princeton NJ 08540 ([email protected]). Wirth is also one of the Assistant Editors of Psycoloquy, the Internet peer-reviewed journal edited by Stevan Hamad. The book originated from the ftp archives. The glossary was prepared by Ethan Starr ([email protected]), a Research Assistant and graduate student at the Catholic University of America. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 I Overture: The Subversive Proposal 11 II The Discussion Begins 13 The first response to Harnad's proposal was swift, practical:an offer by a systems administrator to house a compreheasive scientific electronic publishing system. A brief exchange about level of support took place. For the reader, the discussion here emphasizes that the problems with enacting such a large-scale vision are not technical but social. DI. Who is Responsible? 17 Does the responsibility for scientific and scholarly findings lie at the grass roots with individual scholars or should there be institutionalization and centralization or both? Nobel Prize Winner Joshua Lederberg, looking to the practical uses of more and better information that the scientist can use, introduces the idea of institutional rather than discipline-based archives. From the library community, encouragement to recover sonic control over the economic fate of faculty products; then discussion of the place of the large learned societies in the publishing landscape ensues. IV. What Does Electronic Publishing Cost? 23 Discourse by a leader from the American Chemical Society, one of today's largest and most electronically seasoned publishers, takes the discussion to a new level and adds specific detail of costs and economics to the conversation. Whether electronic publishing will be cheaper or more expensive than print on paper, at least in the near term, is an important underlying question. V. Suggestions and Strategies 30 Several scientists contribute.One is a long-time editor of a substantive electronic newsletter for computer scientists and shares his economic perspectives. Another volunteers to promote the Hamad proposal. Another, a creator of the World Wide Web, comments and offers encouragement for the future.Yet another sees a role for the European Community. Striking is the consensus of the proposal's proponents that practical actions can take precedence for the time being over broader considerations. 6' VI. Reprise 42 Ginsparg and Harnad return to speculation about the practical elements of the proposal. The first of a series of responses from the library community follows. VII. E-Journal Publishing; Infrastructure Investments 49 The American Chemical Society's Lorrin Garson returns to the discussion with detailed comments about the significant planning and investment course the Society has already taken in moving into non-print publication. He makes the case that scaling up and sustaining production require considerable thought and infrastructure support. More numbers are introduced; Harnad differentiates esoteric publication from other sectors of the information market. VIII. A Researcher's Perspective 60 Andrew Odlyzko of AT&T Bell Labs, himself a proponent of similar enterprises, joins the discussion as a third strong voice after Harnad and Ginsparg and presents an essay about staging the transition to electronic scholarly journals. DC. A Librarian Speaks 74 One of the proponents insists that moving to electronic journals is a more simple process than other discussants believe to be the case. Richard Entlich, a librarian at Cornell. with substantial hands-on experience in implementing online journals for university researchers, shares his experience and points to the complexity of the publishing landscape and the interrelated nature of the various parts. X. Reprise -- Prima Facie Worries 87 For several years, Harnad has spoken out about objections to electronic publishing that he sees as ill-founded.Here he takes the opportunity of a contribution to this discussion to review those worrisome issues. XI. A Librarian's View from Europe 92 Bernard Naylor is the University Librarian at the University of Southhampton. He initially joined the discussion through a paper coincidentally written at about the moment the "subversive" discussion was beginning.This section begins his various contributions to the subversive proposal. XII. Graffiti, Esoterica or Scholarship? 110 A return to a question of distinguishing "publishing" front other forms of network-public discourse. What seemed fairly simple in the world of print (for example, knowing the difference between a publication and a private letter) 7 begins to be more complicated in a medium where formal discourse and chit-chat flow in the same pipeline.Does "esoteric" do justice to the significance of scholarly publishing? XIII. E-Journal Costs and Editorial Costs 118 The question of costs returns to the fore, arising from a proposal for a specific project. The question is taken up of what and whether editors should be paid. A university press journals manager contributes some current, real-world information to the discourse on editors and editorial offices.One of the undoubted inefficiencies of the present journal system is the delay and redundancy introduced by a distributed and publication-linked