Reforming scholarly publishing and knowledge communication. From the advent of the scholarly journal to the challenges of open access
| Published date | 01 August 2005 |
| Date | 01 August 2005 |
| Pages | 349-364 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520510617802 |
| Author | Ana Maria Ramalho Correia,José Carlos Teixeira |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Reforming scholarly publishing and
knowledge communication
From the advent of the scholarly journal to the
challenges of open access
Ana Maria Ramalho Correia
Instituto Superior de Estatı
´stica e Gesta
˜o de Informac¸a
˜o,
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal and Instituto Nacional de Engenharia,
Tecnologia e Inovac¸a
˜o, Lisboa, Portugal, and
Jose
´Carlos Teixeira
Instituto Telecomunicac¸o
˜es – Coimbra,
Departamento de Matema
´tica – FCTUC, Coimbra, Portugal
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the continuous evolution of
scholarly publishing and knowledge communication as a result of the internet revolution.
Design/methodology/approach – Information was obtained from a literature review of the main
contributions on “self-archiving” – the broad term often applied to electronic publishing of author-supplied
documents on the web without commercial publisher mediation. The paper analyses the i mpact of the
open access movement, which came to fruition after the OAI Metadata Harvesting Protocol was
established, as it creates the potential for interoperability between e-print repositories. It concludes by
outlining the challenges for information managers in developing the full potential of open access.
Findings – With regard to the future of self-archiving, particularly in relation to peer-reviewed
journals, information managers have a very important role to perform within their organization.
Originality/value – The paper highlights the benefits of publishing in e-print repositories for
authors and their institutions. It points to the roles and responsibilities of information managers,
primarily within academic and research institutions, in devising clear institutional policies and
assisting users to self archive their papers for the benefit of their own organizations and the global
scientific community.
Keywords Archiving, Electronic publishing, Libraries
Paper type Viewpoint
Introduction
This paper provides an overview of the continuing evolution of scholarly publishing,
leveraged in the last decades by the tremendous potential of internet technology. It
introduces “self-archiving” – the broad term often applied to the electronic publish ing,
on a web site, of author-supplied documents, without commercial publisher mediation.
It analyses ways in which self-archiving has developed – subject ver sus institutional
– examines some of the benefits and drawbacks of self-archiving and puts into
perspective the impact of this innovative development on scholarly publication which,
through the open access movement, introduces new business models in this area. The
intensity of self-archiving and its pivotal role in scholarly communication is put into
perspective through reference to initiatives in several countries. Finally, the paper
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
Reforming
scholarly
publishing
349
Refereed article received
6 April 2005
Accepted 20 May 2005
Online Information Review
Vol. 29 No. 4, 2005
pp. 349-364
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/14684520510617802
concludes by outlining the challenges for information managers in developing the full
potential of open access.
Evolution of scientific communication: its adaptation to the challenges of
ICT and the internet
The origins of formal scholarly publishing date back to the seventeenth century, to the
correspondence among scholars (Boyle’s invisible colleges) in England (Meadows,
1998, p. 5; Oppenheim, 2000, p. 361). Groups of scholars would meet regularly to
present papers and discuss research results, under the auspices of the Royal Society.
They were also corresponding in private letters, publishing short accounts of work in
progress to update those members who were unable to attend the meetings. As the
volume of correspondence grew, various scholarly journals emerged as a more efficient
means of exchanging information. Journal des Sc¸avans and the Philoso phical
Transactions of the Royal Society of London were among the first titles to be published
(Schauder, 1994; Meadows, 1998, pp. 6-8).
The scholarly journal may have started in the seventeenth century as a means of
communication – dissemination of important research findings to the wider research
community – but throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the “nature of
journals slowly changed, resulting in a relative decline in the importance of learned
society proceedings, and the successful creation of more specialised journals, reflecting
the fragmentation of knowledge into more specialised disciplines” (Day, 1999). The
scholarly journal soon assumed the additional functions of registering “ownership” –
the “scientific paternity”, according to Guedon (2001) – establishing “priority” over a
particular scientific discovery or advance, and of “packing” current communication
into an indexed and readily accessible archive: a “public registry of scientific
innovation” (Guedon, 2001).
In the nineteenth century, yet another function was added. Publication of articles in
journals came to be the prime indicator of professional standing for research
professionals and the organizations that employed them (Schauder, 1994, p. 75). Thus,
while primarily allowing academics to inform peers of their findings and to be
informed by them, the peer-reviewed journal also fulfilled other requirements (Boyce,
2000. p. 404; Day, 1999; Rowland, 1997) such as:
.Author evaluation. Providing a means for judging the competence and
effectiveness of authors.
.Author recognition. Publication in refereed journals, raising an author’s profile,
improving chances of funding for future research contracts, tenure or promotion.
.Validation of knowledge and quality control. Occurring through the process of
peer review of submitted papers.
.Historical record. Maintaining the record of progress of science through the
years.
.Archival. Providing a repository for the body of knowledge about a particular
field.
As Swan and Brown (2004, p. 4) point out:
Ever since the first scholarly journals were started in the mid 1600s, academic authors have
strived to publish and disseminate the results of their work for two main reasons – to
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