Scholarly Electronic Journals: Economic and Technical Issues.

This paper discusses scholarly communication and the emergence of electronic journals. Scholarly electronic journals are expanding their influence. Currently, about 70 peer-reviewed scholarly journals in education are freely available through the World Wide Web. Wider access to scholarship, new possibilities inherent in the electronic medium, and a shortened publishing lag are some of the issues relating to this expansion. The collision of the financial aspects of traditional print publishing with the ground rules of academic scholarship is also contributing to the progress of electronic dissemination of scholarship. Concerns about the quality of scholarly electronic communication are misplaced since the peer review can be even more rigorous with online journals than with traditional print publications. In addition to economic issues, there are a number of medium-specific technical features of electronic publication that offer a huge potential to revolutionize scholarly communication. (Contains 18 references.) (Author/AEF)