Singh, 'Electronic Journals on Library and Information Studies Available Via the Internet', LIBRES v5n03-4 URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/libres/libres-v5n03-4-singh-electronic LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal ISSN 1058-6768 1995 Volume 5 Issue 3-4; December 31. Quarterly LIBRE5N3 SINGH ________________________________________________ Electronic Journals on Library and Information Studies Available Via the Internet Jagtar Singh Department of Library and Information Science Punjabi University, Patiala-147002 (India) Fytton Rowland and Jack Meadows Department of Information and Library Studies Loughborough University of Technology Loughborough, Leics. LE11 3TU (UK) Abstract Librarians and information workers are obviously interested in electronic journals in their role as providers of information to their customers. At the same time, members of the profession are becoming increasingly interested in accessing electronic journals that relate to their specialist concerns. The purpose of the present article is to look at the second aspect, by examining what specialist library and information titles are currently available online. The nature and content of these electronic journals is then considered in the context of major library and information journals available in printed form. This gives rise to a query regarding future journal publishing in library and information studies. Introduction What constitutes a _journal_ is ill-defined even for the printed medium. Trying to define an _electronic journal_ is even more difficult, since electronic handling lends itself to transmutation of information into various forms to fit different types of presentation. Thus electronic journals, electronic newsletters, bulletin boards, discussion groups and computer conferences can quite easily blur into each other. In distinguishing electronic journals, it is probably best not to rely on the type of contributions they contain (which may be a mix of articles, abstracts, news, etc). If they are to be regarded as in some sense a scholarly journal, they should possess two properties. The first is that at least some of their contents should be based on original work and thought. The second is that this material should normally have been subject to some kind of peer-review process. A systematic search of Internet resources indicates that a number of electronic journals touching on the library and information field is now available. Those which appear to be most important (in the sense that they seem to receive more mention online and in discussion) are examined here. One question at issue is that whether it is possible to discern any characteristics that they have in common. This is studied here via an analysis of their expressed intentions and the information they provide for potential authors. The results are outlined in the next section. For comparison purposes, a number of well-established printed journals in the library and information field is examined in the same terms. This provides a baseline against which the electronic journals can be measured. Electronic Journals and their Characteristics The following electronic journals are examined below: EJournal; EJC/REC: Electronic Journal of Communication/La Revue Electronique de Communication; Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture; Interpersonal Computing and Technology Journal; LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal; MC: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship; The Olive Tree; The Public-Access Computer Systems Review. All these journals were started in North America during the past five years. All have quality control procedures in place, all are network- based, and all are _free_ (in the sense of not being priced publications). The EJournal is produced from the State University of New York. In terms of its focus, the editors note: _We are particularly interested in theory and practice surrounding the creation, transmission, storage, interpretation, alteration and replication of electronic _text_ - broadly defined. We are also interested in the broader social, psychological, literary, economic and pedagogical implications of computer- mediated networks._ There are no guidelines regarding style, but essays of around 5000 words are stated to fit the format best. The editors also note that they are experimenting with _ways of revising, responding to, reworking, or even retracting the texts we publish_. The background to the establishment of the journal has been described at some length by Jennings (1991) in another electronic journal. Electronic Journal of Communication/La Revue Electronique de Communication (EJC/REC) appears in both English and French versions - hence its dual title. (It is the only one of the electronic journals considered here that does not have English as its only official language.) It focuses on _the study of communication theory, research, practice, and policy. Manuscripts reporting original research, methodologies relevant to the study of human communication, critical syntheses of research, and theoretical and philosophical perspectives are welcome_. Articles are typically grouped together into special issues. Detailed guidelines are given for the preparation of manuscripts; in other matters, authors are instructed to follow either the Publication Manual of the APA, or the MLA Handbook. The Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture (abbreviated to EJVC) was until recently called the Arachnet Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture. It is _dedicated to scholarly research and discussion of all aspects of computer-mediated human experience, behaviour, action and interaction. EJVC publishes articles on such topics as computer- mediated activities as electronic mail, e-conferences, e-journals, information distribution and retrieval, the construction and utilization of images/representations/models of reality and/or worlds, and global connectivity_. The journal has three sections: the main section is for peer-reviewed single/multiple articles (including special issues), the next for essays and opinions, and the third publishes comments, reviews, announcements and news. Brief guidelines are given for authors, but, for the most part, they are asked to follow any recognized standard form and style, preferably those laid down in the Publication Manual of the APA. The information about the journal also provides more detail of the reviewing process than usual. The editors promise to acknowledge receipt of an article within 24 hours, and to notify acceptance or rejection within 30 days. All submissions for the main section receive at least three blind reviews by a jury of referees. IPCT: Interpersonal Computing and Technology Journal is published from Georgetown University. The main areas of concern include, but are not limited to, the following topics: use of electronic methods in the classroom, electronic publishing, use of electronic networks and information exchange, library application of electronic communication, professional relationships carried on via electronic communication, use of electronic communication in higher education, business, industry and government and related topics. Articles may have a humanistic or social science cast. Technological articles are considered to the extent that they are intelligible to the bulk of the readers and are not specific to any particular hardware configuration_. The instructions to authors are essentially limited to the statement that articles should be full length and submitted in APA format. LIBRES: Library and Information Research Electronic Journal has a wide brief both in terms of coverage and types of communication. So far as the former is concerned, it is interested in any kind of scholarly thought on library and information science. It contains a number of different sections. The Research and Applications section contains the peer-reviewed articles, but there is also a Preprints and Abstracts section for articles submitted for general review and discussion. Another section deals with Essays and Opinions and a final one with News, Reviews and Discussion. This extensive, and to some extent overlapping coverage by the different sections reflects the original objectives of the journal, which were explained in the following way. _LIBRES will be a platform for initiating, developing and refining research projects and ideas useful for both librarians and other information professionals. It can both present and review research as a journal, and it can stimulate dialogue on emerging research agendas and ideas_. MC: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship encompasses all aspects of academic media librarianship. It is published at irregular intervals. Articles are limited in length, and authors are instructed to follow the Chicago Manual of Style. The Olive Tree, subtitled A Library and Information Science Electronic Journal, is published from the University of Arizona. Its prime concern is with library science and information management, and it is intended to be a cumulative collection of articles, rather than a series of journal issues. Rather brief author guidelines are provided. Finally, The Public-Access Computer Systems Review (PACS Review) is specifically concerned with end-user computer systems in libraries. It is published from the University of Houston. Refereed articles form one section of the journal. Authors are provided with brief instructions, but are then asked to consult the Chicago Manual of Style. All these journals provide information on how to access back issues, and most have ISSNs. The copyright is assigned to authors, though the journals make various provisos concerning further use of materials. Apart from The Olive Tree, which started quite recently and is hypertext-based, the journals are in ASCII format, and available via electronic mail, ftp, gopher and WWW. It appears that some at least are now reconsidering their technical approach, but most currently expect to receive articles as ASCII files online (though a couple allow floppy disks as an alternative). Two other library and information science electronic journals with specific aims and audiences should be mentioned here. The Katherine Sharp Review is a peer-reviewed, US-based electronic journal. However, its authors and referees are restricted to undergraduate and postgraduate students. It can therefore be seen as providing students with an introduction to electronic journal publication. Infotrain, a UK and Australia-based electronic publication, takes this idea further. Its contents can be manipulated by students to provide practice in the design of an electronic journal, as well as in its editing. Printed Journals and their Characteristics The printed journals, considered here, have been selected on the basis that they are leading English-language publications involving a range of commercial, learned society and professional association publishers. The journals concerned are: Information Processing & Management (IP&M); Journal of the American Society for Information Science (JASIS); Journal of Documentation; Journal of Information Science; The Library Quarterly; Journal of Librarianship and Information Science; RQ (Research Quarterly). These journals not only have a much longer history than the electronic journals; they are also priced journals (though with reduced charges for personal or society subscribers). They are similar to the electronic journals in the sense that they are particularly concerned with the publication of peer-reviewed scholarly articles. Information Processing & Management is produced by a commercial publisher. It has a lengthy statement of aims and scope which can be summarized as follows. It is devoted to reporting on: _basic and applied research in information science, computer science, communication, cognitive science and related areas; experimental and advanced procedures, and their evaluation in information retrieval and related areas; management of information resources, libraries, etc._ There are quite detailed instructions to authors, who are asked to refer to the Publication Manual of the APA for further information. The Journal of the American Society for Information Science, though emanating from the Society, is produced by a commercial publisher. It has a broad remit covering all fields of documentation and information science. Instructions are quite detailed, and emphasize that submission on disk is strongly encouraged, though this must be accompanied by a paper copy. For further style information, authors are referred to the Publication Manual of the APA. The Journal of Documentation is produced by Aslib, a research association in the information and special libraries field. The journal publishes articles _based on research or practice relating to the recording, organization, retrieval, dissemination and use of information in systems of all kinds_. Brief guidance is given to authors. The Journal of Information Science is a society publication, but is produced by a commercial publisher. The information to authors says that the Journal of Information Science _will report on developments in, and thinking about, mechanized (and manual) information systems, particularly as they affect and support research communication, technology transfer, and innovation; and the activity range of policy formation, decision making and problem solving_. Moderately detailed guidelines are provided for authors, who are encouraged to submit articles on disk as well as on paper. The Library Quarterly is produced by a university press, and simply says that it welcomes research and discussion articles in the library field. Guidelines for authors are provided, and they are asked to supplement these by reference to the Chicago Manual of Style. The Journal of Librarianship and Information Science has a commercial publisher. It is concerned with _all aspects of librarianship and information science focusing on the results of research, reports of significant developments in working practice and discussions of concerns central to the information profession_. Moderately detailed guidelines are provided for authors, who are encouraged to submit on disk as well as paper. RQ (Research Quarterly) is the journal of the Reference and Adult Services Division of the American Library Association. _The scope of the journal includes all aspects of library service to adults, and reference service and collection development at every level and for all types of library_. Instructions to authors are printed in detail at intervals, rather than in every issue. All these printed journals are published at regular intervals, and all have ISSNs. In almost all cases the publishers retain the control of copyright. A minority of journals accept articles only on paper: none suggests online input. Most consist of a mix of items (especially letters and book reviews) along with refereed articles. Discussion A comparison of the aims and interests of the electronic and printed journals examined here shows that both are generally broad in subject coverage, but typically more specific in terms of the orientation and emphasis they expect to find in submitted articles. One difference between the two groups is that the electronic journals are rather more concerned with basic understanding of the influence of electronic channels of communication, whereas the printed journals concentrate more on their immediate efforts or applications. Hardly surprisingly, the electronic journals are more exclusively concerned with the role of electronic communication than are the printed journals. This does not mean that the former are more technologically or mathematically inclined in their approach, on the contrary, the typical stance in these electronic journals derives from the social sciences or the humanities. In terms of presentation and organization there is considerable similarity between the two types of journal. Both usually have title pages with ISSNs and similar identifiers; both provide refereed articles laid out along similar lines; for the most part both are produced as a series of issues (with most of electronic journals aiming at, if not necessarily achieving, regular publication schedules, like those of the printed journals). There is no consensus for either group concerning guidelines for authors, though the APA and Chicago manuals are mentioned by some in each group. The electronic journals seem to be somewhat worse off, in the sense that the style guides mentioned have actually been developed for print production, and so are not wholly applicable to the electronic medium. The aims and activities that have been listed for the electronic journals indicate that some experimentation is going on. It is, however, limited by two factors. The first is that readers tend to prefer a familiar format when they are experimenting with a new medium (Schauder, 1994). The second is that experimentation can be hard work to implement. In this connection, it is worth quoting a recent letter from the Editor-in-Chief of the Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture (1995). _It has become apparent that the publish-when-ready cycle that we have been trying to work with is difficult to implement in the real world [presumably as compared with in a virtual culture]. It takes substantial time to recruit, review and revise articles. Many of you have noticed the long gaps of time between issues. After discussing the options the Board decided to go with a regular quarterly publication cycle. This will give us time to review and revise articles, time to plan future articles and will give the editors fixed times when they can schedule work on EJVC. Several authors have asked for clearer deadlines and the new cycle can make deadlines more defined as well._ Electronic journals clearly have potential advantages in terms of flexibility over printed journals, but adherence to the precedence set by print can diminish these. For example, they should be better at providing up-to-date news, but this may be less evident if the electronic journal is only published at intervals. Similarly, though interaction with authors can be handled more rapidly, the traditional peer-review process limits the speed of actual publication. The electronic journals considered here tend to be speedier in their overall publication rate, but this seems to stem in part from the dedication of the people involved. It is noticeable, for example, that the Editorial Boards listed for the electronic journals generally appear to be more involved in activities than those listed for printed journals. The examples of the Katherine Sharp Review and Infotrain illustrate the fact that electronic journals have a flexibility in terms both of audience and use that the printed journals lack. Thus the ability in Infotrain for students to experiment with different designs of journal would hardly be feasible for a printed journal. The most obvious difference between the printed and electronic journals is that the former are produced by major institutions primarily on a commercial basis, whereas the latter are produced by groups of enthusiasts on a non-commercial basis. At present the two types of journal can be considered separately. This is not only due to the difference in the medium: it also relates to the differing aims of the journals and motivations of the authors. However, a majority of the publishers involved in producing the set of printed library and information journals discussed here are examining the scope for parallel publication in print and electronic form. At the same time, various pressures are affecting forward planning for private-venture electronic journals: for example, the possibility of charges being introduced for use of the Internet, the need to develop new hypertext interfaces. The question for the immediate future will be whether the two types of library and information science publisher can continue to occupy separate niches, or whether developments will force them closer together. In the latter case, how will the basic dichotomies - such as who owns the copyright - be resolved? References Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture, 3(2), May 1, 1995. Jennings, Edward M. (1991). EJournal: an account of the first two years. The Public-Access Computer Systems Review, 2(1), 99-110. (To retrieve this article, send an e-mail message that says "GET JENNINGS PRV2N1 F=Mail" to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU). Schauder, D. (1994). Electronic publishing of professional articles. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 45(2), 73- 100. NB: All other quoted material is taken from "Instructions to Authors" which are usually available in each issue of the journal concerned. ________________________________________________ This document may be circulated freely with the following statement included in its entirety: Copyright Jagtar Singh, Fytton Rowland and Jack Meadows 1995. This article was originally published in _LIBRES: Library and Information Science Electronic Journal_ (ISSN 1058-6768) December 31, 1995 Volume 5 Issue 3-4. For any commercial use, or publication (including electronic journals), you must obtain the permission of the authors: Jagtar Singh Department of Library and Information Science Punjabi University, Patiala-147002 (India) Fytton Rowland and Jack Meadows Department of Information and Library Studies Loughborough University of Technology Loughborough, Leics. LE11 3TU (UK) To subscribe to LIBRES send e-mail message to listserv@kentvm.kent.edu with the text: subscribe libres _ ________________________________________________