The Problem

Electronic publishing is not a linear extension of print. When you transpose a novel to the film medium this will generate effects that go well beyond the simple translation of a text into images. When you move text from print to a digitized medium this will transform its functionalities, the way we relate to it, and the way it is distributed and received. A digitized document is immediately amenable to full-text searching -- a possibility print cannot offer and which no index, chapter heading, sub-sections or any other devices invented in the course of the last few centuries of print could ever hope to fulfill. Print offers only one way to present information. Whether the reader is browsing or studying deeply, printed texts remain wedded to paper. With digitized documents, the reader moves from browsing mode, often on the screen, to deep reading, often through a printout of the document. In other words, electronic publishing brings about a distinction between the access to information and the way readers relate to it.

Electronic texts can be produced at extremely low costs, can be distributed at a very high speed, and can be easily accessed through search tools and database functions. Academics can distribute their own material much more effectively than the traditional publishing houses. It seem we simply don't need them anymore to collect and distribute material.

Saving Money

Electronic journals can be part of the solution to the crisis in the distribution of academic material. From an economic point of view electronic publishing is much more efficient:

• no printing and typesetting costs: electronic publishing eliminates all the costs which are associated with the proces of 'putting words on paper'.
• no need for intermediaries: electronic publishing eliminates the need for a number of intermediaries or support positions.
• no distribution costs: electronic publishing eliminates the costs associated with the physical distribution of journals,
• strong reduction of mail costs: electronic publishing reduces the mail costs to the process of emailing between author, editor, board and reviewers.

The extreme reduction in the cost of producing electronic journals will eliminate the traditional concern over page length. A concern that had nothing to do with the requirements of scholarly communication, and everything with the cost per page of publication on paper. Most academics will enjoy the destruction of this straight jackect.

Saving Time

• Electronic manuscripts can travel very fast between author, editor and reviewers.
• No more additional postal delays.
• The process of converting texts in to HTML takes only a very short time and can be completely automated with the newest generation of converting software.
• No more waiting before your words finaly hit the paper.
• No more waiting till the ship has arrived that transports your journal from the USA to Europe.

Electronic publication enlivens academic debates. In the traditonal paper world comments on published articles can only appear in the journals after several months. In the electronic world commentary can appear days after the article is published. Commentators can easily contact the author directly with comments or requests for information. The "Electronic Journal of Sociology" is already testing software that will allow readers to comment on submissions on-line. Responses are archived in "forums" assigned to each submission and anyone in the world will be able to review the archived comments.

Free access

• You have free access to very many articles, books and data resources at any time of the day.
• You can read articles and books from your home or office computer.
• You have don't have to pay a subscription fee for this convenience
• You have don't have to make a long trip to the library.
• You can directly check the references and citations in the article you're reading.
• And millions of people all around the world can do the same.

Credibility and Quality of Skywriting

• Electronic publication might improve the practice of scholarship within academic disciplines: superior possibilities for information retrieval may be achieved when scholarly articles are interconnected in flexible databases.
• Electronic publication can facilitate certain types of scholarship that generate products better represented in graphics, or in three-dimensional, animated, or moving visual representations.
• Electronic journals can facilitate informal communication processes through which original ideas are generated and refined and preliminary information about research is disseminated. Online journals might be used to distribute brief summaries of research and information about research in progress, to engage in more limited exchanges of information, or to support and institutionalize informal scholarly communication activities that typically take place in interpersonal contexts.

The electronic journals are here to stay. And they will transform the nature of scholarly communication. Even when authors who have to survive in the highly competitive academic world will continue to mail hard copy drafts of their work to paper based journals.

Companies with vested interests in the highly profitable market of academic books and serials will try to find a way to discredit full electronic publication efforts, or to find ways to exploit the enormous potential of the internet themselves (and close free access to scientific information). The struggle over the information infrastructure has just begun.

Conclusion

1. From an economic point of view electronic publishing can save money and is therefore much more efficient.

2. From a social point of view electronic publishing can save time: it breaks time barriers to produce, distribute and consume scientific information.

3. From a democratic point of view electronic publishing can break financial and social barriers to get access to scholarly material.

4. From a moral point of view electronic publishing can contribute to the de-commodification and de-commercialization of the production and distribution of scientific knowledge.

And yes, there are some serious problems and resistance from "vested interests", "conventional organisational behavior" and last but not least: form our own "social habitus". We do see a lot of rubish on the Internet, but there are simple ways to make the Internet a more or less (that's up to you) personalized information system. It's a "connection to the world" which hopefully will be "always" available and fast accessable from - in potential - every point on earth.

There are some good full text journals on the Internet. But sadly, many journals only give free access to the table of contents with short abstracts and a contents page of past editions (sometimes without abstracts). There are many Internet sites of reputable print journals that don't offer a great deal of content online. We are looking at a button called "pricing and subscription information". This sometimes leads to a price list and an order form for obtaining a printed journal, and in the best case for getting paid access to an electronic version of the journal.

A sceptic might say that the motive for these sites is to sell more copies of the print journal. However, many users may appreciate the "current awareness" service offered by online Tables of Contents. That's why these almost "empty" sites are also included in the selection we made of journals that are of spefic interest for people who are interested in social problems and for social scientist.

Let's end with a really strong statement in the ethical part of the problem. A statement of a very cleaver and funny man who tried to map out the ideal communication medium of the future:

"So the essential point is now self-evident: if we the researchers are not writing with the expectation of making money directly from our efforts, then there is no earthly reason why anyone else should make money in the process (except for a fair return on any non-trivial "value-added" they may provide; or except if, as was formerly the case in the paper-only era, the true costs of making our documents publicly available are sufficiently high to require that they be sold for a fee)". Paul Ginsparg [1994] "After Dinner Remarks"

"We need to dislodge definitively the curiously prevalent notion that the future electronic medium will strictly duplicate, inadequacy for inadequacy, ashes for ashes, dust for dust, the current print medium; and that means you must go home and rethink many of your operations."

Reference

• Property Rights (SocioSite) - Resources on copyrights and intellectual property.

• Bailey, C. W. Jr. Scholarly electronic publishing bibliography - Een zeer goede, regelmatig bijgewerkte bibliografie over elektronisch en interactief publiceren in de wetenschappelijke wereld. Wie op de hoogte wil blijven mag deze lijst niet missen.

• Harned, Steven E-Prints on interactive publication - Harned (University of Southhampton, UK) has put his articles articles on scholarly skywriting, interactive publication, and implementing peer review on the net.

• McCarty, Willard Overview of online publication - Sources towards a provisional typology of online publishing. He wants to provoke our thinking about how we might resolve the activity into a set of useful categories.

• Odlyzko, Andrew Papers on Electronic Publishing and Elektronic Commerce - A collection of excellent papers on all aspects of electronic publishing and commerce.

• Sosteric, Mike [1996a] Electronic Journals and Scholarly Communication. In: EJS 1(2), 1996. Contains lots of references to other material on this subject.

• Sosteric, Mike [1996b] Electronic Journals: The Grand Information Future?, in: EJS 2(2), 1996.