Nigel, Apologies for not replying before: I'm sure the various messages on
the lists have given us all a good deal of food for thought.
I think, for the short to medium term, there will still be an advantage in
having in existence, and having the possibility of subscribing to, what can
still be recognised as a 'journal', as opposed to only individual articles.
This journal will look quite a lot like existing print journals, and serve
the same purposes, although certainly should be introducing hyperlinks,
interactive discussion, and all the other possibilities mentioned by Steve
Hitchcock and others.
We provide access to Sociological Research Online (and many other ejournals)
through our Library Web pages, and also through our Catalogue. We find that
academics still want to browse (electronically or in print) through the
contents of particular journals, in addition to carrying out pure subject or
keyword searches. It's important for you to establish the 'brand name' of
your journal - which I'm sure you are doing - so that it is recognised as a
leading journal, and one for which there is a demand for libraries to
subscribe. It will still be the case, for at least some time to come, that
it will be more prestigious to publish in certain journals rather than
others, and that this will be taken into account during research assessment
exercises (in this country), attracting research funding, promotion, etc.
On the mechanics of subscriptions, we would very much prefer a site licence
option (there is nothing more frustrating than access being restricted to
machines in e.g. the library); and we would very much prefer access
restriction by IP subnet addresses, as opposed to username/password (which
can be a further barrier to use).
On the CD-ROM question, for various reasons mentioned by others, we don't
much like them for individual journals, although I recognise that, if
'subscriptions' still exist, there has to be some solution to the problem of
what to do if you cancel the subscription. There will certainly be a demand
to maintain access to past years' issues/articles that have already been
paid for. I think we would prefer an online solution, but this will require
careful thought and design to avoid user confusion - it would have to be
clear that access was available to past, but not current, issues, and clear
why this was the case.
Nothing much new above, but thank you for asking for views, and initiating
another debate on these vital questions.
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Tony Kidd, Head of Serials, Glasgow University Library,
Hillhead Street, Glasgow G12 8QE, Scotland, UK.
Email: [log in to unmask]
Tel: 0141 330 6778 (UK); (+44)141 330 6778 (non-UK)
Fax: 0141 330 4198 (UK); (+44)141 330 4198 (non-UK)
>Sociological Research Online is an electronic journal receiving funds from
>the UK's eLib program for three years, 1995 to 1998. After that date, the
>journal is expected to become self-funding.
>
>The Management Board (of which I am Chair) is now debating the value of a
>number of alternative schemes for raising income after 1998 and would value
>the views of members of this list.
......
>_________________________________________________________________________
>Prof G. Nigel Gilbert, Dept of Sociology, University of Surrey, Guildford,
>GU2 5XH, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)1483 259173 Fax: +44 (0)1483 306290
>
>
>
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