E-journals and E-publishing
E-journals and E-publishing
Electronic journal (e-journal) publishing on the World Wide Web is a flourishing field, providing users with online access to various journals. However, there is still a lack of standardization among publishers, and users need to be aware that most journals are still published in print, therefore titles available on the web often cover only a small percentage of a journal's back issues. Despite that challenge, the ease of use and universal acceptance of the web has ushered in e-publishing with a flurry.
E-journals have numerous benefits compared to their print versions. For example, most e-journals can be accessed twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, making it unnecessary for users to visit libraries in order to make copies of articles. E-journals eliminate the need to track down missing hardcopies or wait for a group of issues to be bound together at the bindery to preserve them for later use. Another benefit is that many e-publishers allow users to download most articles. E-journals are also often an enhanced version of their print counterparts, with embedded links that add value to the journal. Some publishers make particular articles of an e-journal available electronically before the entire issue is available. One of
the most important benefits is that multiple users at one location can access the same article at the same time.
Many libraries are making tough choices to save shelf space and labor costs by canceling their print subscriptions and subscribing to electronic versions only. However, they are finding that they rarely save money with this approach because many publishers require libraries to subscribe to the print version in order to access the electronic version. This often adds between 30 and 50 percent of the cost of the print version alone, if not more. Also, some publishers may force a library that wants both print and electronic access to choose one or the other—they may not allow both options.
Regardless of these problems, e-journals continue to offer several advantages. For example, whereas print journals are limited to traditional static text and two-dimensional graphics, e-journals can include sound, video, Java applets, or other multimedia options. References in articles can be dynamically linked to other works, if they are online as well. Articles can also list dynamic links to various examples and other sources, rather than just being limited to the standard citations or two-dimensional images seen in the print versions.
There are two primary criticisms of e-journals: their instability in the publishing market and the lack of a permanent archive (backlog) for many journals. Common complaints include Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) that change frequently and servers that crash. Also, many publishers and vendors show little concern over the need to maintain a consistent archive of issues that are made available on the web. This is a matter of great concern to libraries, especially if they choose to cancel print subscriptions in favor of access to e-journals. Libraries need to ensure that all years of a title are available to its patrons.
Relationship to Traditional Research
Many scholarly journals are available as e-journals. In fact, some scholarly e-journals that have a significant impact on their respective fields are available for free. Attitudes toward papers published in e-journals are gradually changing, making them more accepted. At the same time, scholars continue to have concerns about how to view e-journals in the peer review process, the integrity of publishing in e-journals, and the use of such publications for tenure and promotion decisions. This process is evolving and changing, largely due to a movement underway between various scientific societies and universities to transform and have an impact on scholarly publishing. Leading this movement is an initiative called "Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)" <http://www.arl.org/sparc/> with the goal of "returning science to scientists."
Authentication and Verification
There are primarily two methods for accessing e-journals: by password and by Internet Protocol (IP) authentication. Passwords work well for people with individual subscriptions, but in a library setting, it becomes cumbersome to keep patrons apprised of password information. Therefore, although passwords are an effective way to provide users with access when they are using the journals from off-site, IP authentication is the most efficient way
for an institution to provide access to its e-journals for users who want to access the information while on-site. If organizations use the IP authentication method, they have to inform the publisher of all the possible IP addresses for their institution. IP authentication works by providing the user with a certificate or token that certifies their identity within an organization. When the identity of the user is verified, the user is either passed on to the publisher's server or to a server that acts as a proxy. This method can sometimes be expensive and complex, and there is a need for an organization to maintain a local server with an access control list of eligible users. Another challenge is that some publishers limit the number of simultaneous users, which can present its own set of problems.
Another type of authentication technique built upon public keys and certificates for establishing a user's identity is X.509. A user is required to provide an encrypted certificate with personal information about his or her identity. This certificate is then paired with the user's public key information that can be seen by other servers. Certificates can be created with special software or received from third party organizations known as certification authorities. Certificates are sent by a web browser and authentication is handled by a server that accepts these certificates with an access control list of eligible users.
Kerberos is also an authentication scheme based on encrypted credentials. It was created at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is freely available. Kerberos uses hidden tickets that can be used over open networks for authentication. A central server with account information authenticates each ticket and then passes the user through to the resources on that server. Kerberos was developed with an important emphasis on security and uses a strong cryptography protocol that can be used on insecure networks.
Proxy Servers
Proxy servers are important for organizations with a dispersed group of users. An example would be a university whose faculty and students travel worldwide for conferences, internships, and other events. These people may need access to their university library's e-journals while off-campus, and proxy servers provide them with this common means of access.
A proxy server works by masking remote users with the accepted IP address needed to access an e-journal restricted by an IP address. Users configure their browsers to access a proxy server and are prompted to authenticate themselves when they link to an e-journal. Authentication may require a user's name, social security number, student identification number, or other unique piece of information that will identify a user. The most attractive feature of the proxy server is that a user can access a restricted resource from any location. The most important problem with a proxy server, however, is that some publishers refuse access to their e-journals by a proxy server. Also, if all users are funneled through a proxy server, it may create a bottleneck, especially if the proxy server goes down.
Technology and Software
The primary formats used for e-journals are HTML, Adobe Acrobat PDF, Catchword's RealPage, and SGML. PDF has become somewhat of a
standard for many e-journals because it is readily available, flexible, and inexpensive. But there has been little agreement between publishers regarding the different formats.
Organizations
For computer sciences, some of the key organizations that publish e-journals are as follows.
