E-journals: The advantages and pitfalls

E-journals: The advantages and pitfalls

By Rosa Widyawan

JAKARTA (JP): Thanks to the advent of the Internet, Indonesian
scholars can keep abreast of scientific developments by accessing
the World Wide Web (WWW) where they can conveniently refer to
relevant scholarly electronic journals (e-journals) with just a
click of a mouse.

More importantly, they can contact their overseas counterparts
to discuss on-going research and to take part in discussion
forums with peers. They can also access important information
such as sponsorships, seminars, conferences via the Internet.

Scholarly e-journals are publications of scientific writings
selected by editors in cooperation with peer reviewers and
distributed electronically to users.

Actually, there are four manifestations in the evolution of e-
journals over the past three decades: firstly, the use of
computers in the preparation of printed publications, which
started during the early sixties.

Secondly, the distribution of texts electronically that are
exact equivalents of their paper versions. Thirdly, this form of
text distribution additionally possesses a few value added
features, such as searching and alerting. And finally, the
introduction of new types of publication to explore multimedia
possibilities.

They can all be divided into two generations. The first
generation includes those that are stored in the American
Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) file with
simple structures. Their publishers are usually individuals from
a group of scientists, not commercial publishers. This generation
disseminates the information solely through e-mail.

The second generation is characterized by distribution based
on HTML or by using WWW. Journal articles may cover a wide range
of multimedia and feature links to other sources on the Internet.
Their files are relatively large and are not distributed by e-
mail.

In Indonesia, e-journals are published by universities,
professional organizations, and research institutions. Not all
are purely in an e-journal format but are electronic versions of
traditional (printed) journals.

Journal Fisika Indonesia published on the Net by the
Indonesian Physicist Association is the electronic version of the
paper-based publication. This operates in the same way as
overseas counterparts like the Institute of Physics in Great
Britain.

Some publishers are developing their own servers in order to
offer public access to their electronic journals and magazines.
Others are working in partnership with libraries, academic
institutions, non-profit organizations and other commercial
sector companies to offer their journals on the network.

The publishers, Blackwell Sciences, publishes 225 journals,
mostly from scholarly societies and is the world's largest
publisher of society journals, aggressively altering its
procedures so that printed and electronic versions of their
published material are concurrently available.

This method has also been adopted by Indonesian e-journal
publishers, but in terms of partnership it does not operate in
conjunction with institutions, rather is focused for personal use
particularly for peer reviewers.

E-journals in Indonesia are predominantly freely accessible,
though publishers charge for printed editions. Compared to news
or popular magazines, e-journals are relatively cheap.

Blackwell Science, for example, charges 90 percent of the cost
of print for online-only subscription. It charges approximately
130 percent of the publication price for combined online and
print subscriptions.

There is an interesting phenomenon in marketing electronic
journals. The Institute of Physics, for example, gives free
access to any library that subscribes to its printed journals.

They charge non-subscribers per view or offer a one year
subscription for electronic versions of their journals. Other
publishers also carry out this form of charging.

It is handy to search for academic journals on the web.
Several directory services have recently been introduced to the
Internet that try to keep up with developments in their field.

It is now possible to consult American Research Libraries'
Electronic Journal Directory and NewJour-L list, a server devoted
to alerting subscribers to new electronic journals. So now, one
can access e-journals from anywhere over the globe.

Unfortunately, it is hard to distinguish between newsletters,
academic articles, reviews or magazine-type publications,
journals from both servers.

The Directory of Major Publishers of Electronic Journals is a
useful vehicle for finding e-journals as some publishers offer
access to their electronic journal and magazines.

One can also look at Electronic Journal Market Overview, which
provides an overview of general issues on e-journals, a review of
publishers' activities and overviews of e-journals.

Another method to find scholarly e-journals is by visiting
university URLs. One example is the University of Houston's
library, which maintains the page Scholarly Journal Distributed
via the Web. In the field of economics there are the very
informative resource pages of the publication, The Economist, on
the Internet.

Acquiring academic journals is a major concern for many of
Indonesia's libraries. Nearly all local libraries are now
reviewing their subscriptions and canceling journals.
Unfortunately, libraries here cannot afford to subscribe to world
renowned publications.

This is of course frustrating for library users.

So far there is the expectation that e-journals will be able
to replace the traditional printed versions, by virtue of cheaper
subscription rates.

E-journals may be cheaper and reach subscribers more quickly
than printed editions. Besides, the articles are usually not
limited to size and can be hyperlinked to other sources of
reference.

Because they can be accessed globally, they promise a more
open review process. From the library's point of view, e-journals
demand no library space and shelving costs; they cannot be
vandalized or stolen. They are available 24 hours a day for as
long as the server is on.

But there are also the downsides -- especially the fact that
accessibility depends upon hardware, software and
telecommunication infrastructure. Consequently, in Indonesia at
least, they have a limited readership.

Indonesia has experienced a slow rate of growth of its e-
journals. There are currently 70 scholarly journals, the number
having remained the same over the past two years. Over the same
period there have only been two new journals launched, by the
Fishery Department of Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central
Java, and by the National Library. Unfortunately, they are not
updated regularly -- maybe because there are not enough readers
and authors accessing their content.

The presence of e-journals has yet to show a bearing on
scientific writing in this country. Not many authors refer to
them because too few people have access to them. Scholars, it
appears, still prefer the printed version of journals.

The writer is a librarian at the Center for Scientific
Documentation (PDII) at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences
(LIPI) in Jakarta.