NFAIS Creates Working Group on Digital Article By Article Publishing
Philadelphia, PA, December 3, 2007 - The National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS) announced today the creation of a Best Practices Working Group charged with the development of guidelines for bibliographic policies related to article-by-article digital publishing. The group includes representatives from primary and secondary publishing as well as from the library community.
"An increasing number of publishers are moving to article-by-article publishing," said Linda Beebe, NFAIS Immediate Past-President and Chair of the Working Group. "But the protocols that are being used to deliver the content vary widely. And the new practices that are emerging are beginning to have a significant impact throughout the Information Community - on primary and secondary publishers, librarians, authors and users. Thus far, there does not appear to be a commonly accepted standard for this type of publishing and this void raises some serious issues for all of us."
Beebe noted that the Working Group grew out of an NFAIS Roundtable discussion on this topic that was sponsored by the American Psychological Association/PsycINFO in November. A group of interested information professionals from the publishing and library communities met to share their experiences in handling article-by-article publishing, and as a result of their discussion they identified a set of common concerns that they believe must be addressed. These concerns include the need to know when a specific issue is closed and what document actually is to be considered the article/issue of record; how to easily identify publishing gaps and duplicate articles; how to ensure that errata are not overlooked; how the use of diverse pagination across media (print, online) for the same article can be avoided; what purpose do issues serve in a digital publishing environment? And if the concept of journal issues is abandoned, what is the impact on ISSN's, serials, library acquisitions and, of course, journal branding?
Beebe noted that the information community is working with terminology and concepts that have their roots firmly embedded in centuries of print publishing. "Terms such as "article, "issue", "page number," etc. are all conceptual artifacts," she said, "yet each was created to serve a specific purpose. Articles and issues were created to provide the flow of scholarly communication in manageable chunks for processing and reading. Page numbers act as article locators and page ranges indicate the amount of information contained in an article or issue. One goal of the Working Group will be to identify the rationale for these concepts and determine what role, if any, the concepts will serve as publishing becomes increasingly article based."
The Working Group will hold their first meeting during the week of December 10, 2007. They will also be seeking input from other organizations with similar concerns on this topic. All those interested in learning more about this issue are encouraged to visit the NFAIS Web site (www.nfais.org).
Founded in 1958, NFAIS is a membership organization of more than 60 of the world's leading producers of databases and related information services, information technology, and library services in the sciences, engineering, social sciences, business, and the arts and humanities. For more information on NFAIS, its member organizations, or the Working Group, contact Jill O'Neill, Director of Communication and Planning (jilloneill@nfais.org or (215)-893-1561) or visit the NFAIS web site (http://www.nfais.org).
