Steve,
Times change and so do the meaning of words. The whole point of my deconstructed journal model was that there was no reason why all the roles carried out by the traditional journal needed to be carried out by a single entity in a networked world. Virtual journals carry out some of the roles of the traditional journal. Looking back to my '99 paper they provide:
Editorial/Subject filtering
Marketing or making aware
Subject defining
Community defining
Part of 'conferring recognition of work done' (mainly the role of the certification agency and referees)
Already VJAS lists review articles separately, I expect mature virtual journals to commission their own review articles.
In a world of repositories and open access journals we can have forms of research communication support services not possible or not necessary in the old paper based world. Virtual journals are one of these entities.
Regards,
John.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Repositories discussion list [mailto:JISC-
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steve Hitchcock
> Sent: 14 May 2008 17:20
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Semantic Web (was RE: Google, OAI and the IRs)
>
> John, Interesting use of the term 'journal'. There are many uses
> of
> this term, but when some years ago I investigated its use in the
> context of scholarly papers, participants were clear that it
> should
> involve the application of peer review. On that basis VJAS is a
> current awareness service - a legitimate and useful service - but
> not
> a journal because it does not itself apply peer review.
>
> At 15:16 14/05/2008, John Smith wrote:
> >David,
> >
> >Virtual journals do not contain articles but point to articles
> made
> >public elsewhere. Effectively they are current (sometimes
> annotated)
> >bibliographies for a specific subject. An example is the Virtual
> >Journal of Applications of Superconductivity
> >
> >http://www.vjsuper.org/
> >
> >which lists articles on superconductivity applications published
> in
> >a range of physics journals.
> >
> >They have editorial boards (or equivalent groups) that choose
> items
> >for subject relevance but do not necessarily judge formal quality
> >leaving that to the original journal/publishers. VJAS only
> chooses
> >from a limited range of primary publications but there is not
> reason
> >why a virtual journal should be so limited. The point I was
> making
> >was that the items listed are chosen by human subject experts
> rather
> >than keyword seeking software.
>
> Or more simply, apply an aggregator to the RSS feeds from the
> selected source journals, keyword 'superconductivity'. You could
> probably fine tune that to get a good approximation of VJAS.
>
> >Where they act as subject filtering front-ends to large
> repositories
> >like ArXiv they are usually called 'overlay journals'.
>
> Overlay journals were around in the mid-1990s, but they have not
> proliferated since then because either they do not solve, or are
> not
> able to solve, current issues concerning publication and
> dissemination. Overlay journals emerged to build on subject
> repositories before we had IRs, OA journals, hybrid OA journals
> and
> green journals. There is not an obvious gap there, unless overlay
> journals can motivate OA to content that is not otherwise OA, but
> their time may come.
>
> In the meantime I believe we are more likely to need current
> awareness filters for OA repository content, where we can see
> emerging critical masses of content in areas of interest, than we
> are
> to need overlay journals.
>
> Steve Hitchcock
> IAM Group, School of Electronics and Computer Science
> University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 7698 Fax: +44 (0)23 8059 2865
>
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >John.
> >
> >
> >----------
> >From: Repositories discussion list
> >[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Kane
> >Sent: 13 May 2008 22:34
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: Semantic Web (was RE: Google, OAI and the IRs)
> >
> >Hi John,
> >I can see social networking techniques replacing (or
> supplementing)
> >coffee break meetings and even the old invisible college idea.
> >
> >
> >Yes, I would see social media is supplementing coffee breaks
> >meetings, conferences and the like. I not only want to be able
> to
> >read your emails but I want to be able to speak with you face-to-
> face as well.
> >
> >However, unless you have specially designed social networking
> >services focussed on the needs of researchers (and subject
> specific)
> >the possibilities seem limited.
> >
> >
> >You raise an interesting point, namely that there is a
> possibility
> >that services that arise on the web may not be sufficiently well
> >adapted to the specific needs of academic communities to be of
> use
> >to them. I don't know how 'designed' those academic services
> might
> >have to be to be useful, but if there is enough awareness then
> >perhaps their development can be shaped in a better way as they
> evolve?
> >
> >Although now quite an old idea I still see a role for virtual
> journals.
> >
> >If you mean open access journals, then I would hope that their
> role
> >increases! Without journals, open access repositories and
> >preservation, what would scholarly social networks have to share
> and
> >talk about?
> >
> >We still need to have humans who actually 'understand' rather
> than
> >compare keywords in the loop. Only with understanding can you see
> >analogies and recognise the possible usefulness of discoveries in
> other fields.
> >
> >As Scott Wilson says in his reply, 'This is where the SN approach
> shines'.
> >
> >I agree entirely about watching what people do with these social
> >networking (and other information related) tools. I think what we
> >can predict with certainty is that they will do things the
> designers
> >never intended :-) .
> >
> >Quite, and not knowing how it will shake down makes it
> interesting
> >to follow.
> >
> >Best regards,
> >
> >
> >David Kane
> >Systems Librarian
> >Waterford Institute of Technology
> ><http://library.wit.ie/>http://library.wit.ie/
> >T: ++353.51302838
> >M: ++353.876693212
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