Authors and information technology: new challenges in publishing

Last year 1279 professional authors completed a lengthy questionnaire on their use of, and attitudes towards, technological tools for writing and publishing. The data were analysed quantitatively, by examining the most frequent responses to items on the questionnaire, and qualitatively, by looking closely at details illuminating the relationship between authors and publishers. The results, for present purposes, are divided into three broad bands of interest: first, what types of writing software authors are currently using; second, what the implications of using authors’ disks in the publication chain are; and third, how technology alters perceptions of the ‘copy’ as a unit of sale. Findings suggest that though authors are operating at basic levels, they have embraced technology with more enthusiasm than their publishers. The challenge facing those involved in books is to make provision for presenting and displaying work in electronic form: to improve contracts and licensing agreements, and to disseminate information on technology to authors.     

Scholarly communication in the digital environment: what do authors want?

This article reports on a large‐scale international survey of authors' perception and experience of the journals system conducted by ciber in association with National Opinion Polls (NOP). It explores the factors that inform authors' decisions where to publish and, in particular, which groups of readers they perceive to be most important. It probes readership behaviour and the values that underlie authors' attitudes towards copyright and emerging business models, notably open access. It is concluded that many aspects of author behaviour are highly conservative and that a significant shift towards open access is, in the short to medium term, highly unlikely.     

What societies want from a publishing partner

Societies, whose publishing programmes are primarily mission‐driven, play a unique role in funding and disseminating research. But by their nature – often small and with limited resources – they are particularly prone to the turbulence currently affecting scholarly publishing. BMJ Journals is itself a society publisher but also publishes under contract for other societies. During 2008, we carried out research to assess societies' evolving needs from their publishing partnerships. The changing expectations and behaviours of the next generation of researchers are considered to be as much of a threat as declining revenues. Societies are planning to expand professional development activities and to maximise their use of emerging technologies to help maintain and grow membership. Although surplus is a low priority for societies and, accordingly, for their publishing programmes, a high financial return is nonetheless a key criterion when choosing publishing partners – as are reputation, technological innovation, and individual title development.     

Physicists in the new era of electronic publishing

New electronic opportunities for scientific communication, and changes in how scientists use journals, are prompting a complete re-evaluation of the roles of scientific journals and of scholarly societies like the APS.     

What do societies and publishers want from publishing partnerships?

This article looks at the requirements of both the society and publisher when entering into a publishing partnership. These partnerships are driven by more than just income considerations. Visibility for the product and expertise in both publishing and the academic assessment of content and publication are considered. The assumption that the society only provides academic assessment and the publisher only provides publishing skills is questioned.     

《中学生实话实说》选载二则

难得!难得!难得秋游,难得初三组织秋游,难得学校同意初三组织秋游。 “噢,太棒啦!”同学们的欢呼声一下盖住了老师的声音。我们无需再往下听什么地点、要求,这“秋游”两个字就够我们欣喜的啦。大家拼命地议论着,想把内心的欢乐带给每一个人。然而此刻根本不需要“传递员”,我们每人的喜悦都多得向外溢出,向外喷发着,犹如岩浆一般涌出教室,流到大街上。去你的,书包、作业;去你的,黑板、笔记。我们要真正享受曾多次被老师占有的课间十分钟,更要真正享受被学校夺去的一个个双休日。 终于,喧闹声被神通广大的老师镇压住了。可是她似乎并没有吸取刚才的“教训”,又宣布了一个更     

Authors and open access publishing

Surveys were carried out to learn more about authors and open access publishing. Awareness of open access journals among those who had not published in them was quite high; awareness of ‘self‐archiving’ was less. For open access journal authors the most important reason for publishing in that way was the principle of free access; their main concerns were grants and impact. Authors who had not published in an open access journal attributed that to unfamiliarity with such journals. Forty per cent of authors have self‐archived their traditional journal articles and almost twice as many say they would do so if required to.     

Restructuring the publishing industry: New technology,new jobs,and a new curriculum

Major changes in the publishing industry demand a reassessment of the way publishing is taught. This article discusses changes in technology, internationalization, organization, and context, along with implications for the purpose of publishing education, its objectives, and scope. Ralph Hancox, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of the Reader’s Digest Association (Canada) Ltd., has been with the corporation since 1967. A graduate of the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, Mr. Hancox is chairman of the National Association of Major Mail Users, a governor of the Conseil du Patronat du Québec, a director of the Quebec Chamber of Commerce, and chairman of the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing Society. Mr. Hancox acknowledges the assistance of Jeanmarie Gélinas, Charles W. Magill, and James Hayes.     

从作者指南入手提高科技期刊学术友好度

科技期刊以学术友好的方式提供学术出版,是其服务于学术界的根本要求。探求学者们的需要并及时作出反应是科技期刊贯彻学术友好理念最基本的步骤。为了实现学术友好,就应当在出版活动的各个环节贯穿友好的意识:从详细的写作指导、方便使用的投稿系统、严谨的同行评议、照顾阅读流畅的版式、以读者容易正确理解为目的的简洁文风等都应显示友好。作为科技期刊与学者们交流的窗口,作者指南是科技期刊根据学者们的需求所作的反应的一种表达,因此,从作者指南入手提高科技期刊的学术友好度是实现友好理念的有力措施。本文阐明作者指南的获取、形式和内容,解读作者指南需要涵盖的各个方面,以提高科技期刊的学术友好度。     

Electronic publishing: what the Physiological Society is doing

The following article is primarily addressed to members of the Physiological Society, and is intended to explain the reasons for the changes in presentation of the Physiological Society journals. However, it is of much wider interest, and we are delighted to publish it in our series on the response of learned societies to electronic publishing possibilities.     

Learned societies and electronic publishing

Electronic publishing techniques are introducing inevitable changes in scholarly publishing as a whole and in the academic journal publishing business in particular. What will be the effect of the changes on the function and role of learned societies?     

Experiences with bilingual publishing: surveys of authors and editors

Bilingual publishing has become a strategy employed by journals from the non‐Anglophone world to gain wider recognition. Beyond anecdotal evidence, however, there are no published accounts of the experiences of editors and authors of bilingual journals with the process of bilingual publication. It is also unclear how authors writing in bilingual journals judge the quality of the translations and whether they consider this sort of publishing as beneficial for their aims. Consequently, we carried out two surveys: one among editors of bilingual journals and one anonymous survey among authors and translators of articles published in Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, the bilingual journal of the German Medical Association. Eight of nine journals as well as 233 of 353 authors and 4 of 6 translators took part. Most journals reported that bilingual publication helped in becoming indexed in important databases (e.g. Medline), receiving or improving an Impact Factor, and in attracting authors. All journals plan to continue publishing bilingually. Authors were ‘satisfied’ (40.8%) or ‘very satisfied’ (57.8%) with translations. Almost all (96.7%) were in favour of bilingual publication of their work. They did not view an English translation as an obstacle to another related English language paper. Translators highlighted challenges relating to specialized terminology and to terms specific to the regional healthcare system.     

Knowing your users and what they want

Abstract

In order to have a successful library program for offcampus students, librarians must understand who their students are and what they want. This paper will address the issues involved in conducting a user survey for off-campus students. The paper will cover details on developing a survey; it will discuss the logistics of sending and receiving; and it will examine one method of evaluation. This work is based on a student survey conducted by the University of Iowa Libraries during November 1998 and March 1999.     

In their very own words: authors and scholarly journal publishing

This paper presents the results of a major investigation by questionnaire of author attitudes towards scholarly publishing, which was funded by the Publisher's Association. Altogether, the views of nearly 4,000 authors were obtained and this paper concerns just those thousand or so authors who accepted the invitation to write freely about their own personal feelings and experiences. Using QSR N6 textual analysis software, their comments were processed and themes extracted. While the rest of the questionnaire, which was formed of closed‐question, tick‐box type questions, clearly must have had some impact on their thinking, the authors had considerable latitude in regard to what they could say. The paper provides a unique opportunity to hear their views directly. The pressing topics turned out to be (in rough order of concern): the peer‐review system, copyright, journal prices, alternative business models for journal publishing, big deals, Elsevier, electronic publishing and digital journals.     

On the tips of their tongues: authors and their views on scholarly publishing

The paper presents the results of an international questionnaire survey of the attitudes of senior authors towards scholarly publishing. It was commissioned by the Publishers Association (PA) and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM). A total of 5,513 authors participated. The questionnaire included 22 closed questions and one open‐ended question that 1,943 authors used to freely express their views. Using QSR N6 textual analysis software, their comments were processed and themes extracted. The main concerns of the authors were the peer‐review process, faster publishing, better access to journals, journal prices, and issues related to electronic publishing.     

论现代信息技术与编辑出版学新的学科生长点

首先指出现代信息技术改变了当前编辑出版工作的理念和运作方式，进而探讨编辑出版学在现代信息技术作用下的发展趋势、编辑出版学学科理论研究与建设的发展目标以及新的学科生长点。     

Access or acquisition: The impact and implications of electronic publishing

This paper looks at electronic publishing and its potential impact on the publication and distribution of library materials. Potential barriers to the “electronic library”e are also discussed.