The Eclectic Journal

[Gerry Mckiernan]

                                _The Eclectic Journal_

       Based upon a review of E-journals for my new Web registry, EJI(sm)  

       [http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/EJI.htm ], 

I have concluded that the present-day "Electronic Journal" is evolving to become what I call "The Eclectic Journal". 

    By the "Eclectic Journal", I mean a Web-based resource that at its core provides access to e-journals that offer not only access to the conventional content of a digital form of a journal  but also provides or permits interaction with novel and innovative _features and functionalities_  (e.g., reference linking, cross-publisher searching, page customization, open peer review, etc.) _AND_ novel and innovative _content_ (e.g., e-Books, pre-publication history, electronic discussions, translation services, e-prints, bibliographic databases, etc.) 

[SEE EJI(sm) for _several_ more types of various novel and innovative features, functionalities, and content_ as well as dozens of specific examples overall]

   Such features, functionalities and content may be integrated  _within_ the e-journal proper or made accessible from  the  main resource.

   Sites that  I would consider excellent  examples of  the "Eclectic Journals" are 

   BMJ [British Medical Journal]  [  http://www.bmj.com/] 
     This Electric Journal provides access to a bibliographic databases (i,e., Medline), e-prints, reader commentary, reorganized journal content (Collected  Resources), pre-publication history, etc.] [Free registration required [?]

   The Technical Library of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers 
(ASAE) [  http://asae.frymulti.com/ ] 

      This Eclectic Journal allows concurrent searching of the 
various ASAE publications, notably journal, conference proceedings, standards, technical books, and technical meetings)

     As source material for a review I am preparing on the "The Once and Future Journal" for a special issue of  _The Serials Librarian_ 
[  http://web.mit.edu/waynej/www/e-access.htm], I am greatly interested in identifying Any and All  _RECENT_ literature that discusses this publishing phenomena. [I am aware of much of the major and minor works about the 'Electronic Journal' published within the past 50 years]

Recently, I identified two highly-relevant articles that support my observations about e-journal evolution:

   1- Cox, John. 2000. "The Journal as a provider of community services,"
__The Serials Librarian_ 38(1/2): 199-209

and

  2. Anderson, Kent. 2001. "The Mutant journal: how adaptations to online forces are forcing STM journals to mutate,"  _Learned Publishing 14(1) 15-22.
[ http://cherubino.catchword.com/vl=71902383/cl=2/nw=1/rpsv/catchword/alpsp/09531513/v14n1/s3/p15 ]
 
[This article offers a *very* interesting perspective on e-journal evolution!]
[Thanks Garrett Eastman from the Rowland Institute, Cambridge, MA for this reference]

  I am also interested in learning of any _additional_ Eclectic Journal features, functionalities and/or content that I have _not yet_ established in 
EJI(sm) [ http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/EJI.htm] 

  As Always, Any and All contributions, comments, critiques, queries, cosmic insights, etc. etc. etc. are Most Welcome.

   Regards,

Gerry McKiernan
Eclectic Librarian 
Iowa State University
Ames IA 50011

gerrymck at iastate.edu 

P.S. From my perspective the ACM Digital Library [  http://www.acm.org/dl/]
and the IEEE Explorer [ http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/lpdocs/epic03/ ] might also be considered Eclectic Journals [What Do You Think?]