EPRESS - Electronic Publishing Resource Service

Project web site

http://www.epress.ac.uk/

Programme area

Electronic Journals and Pre-Prints

Contact details

Professor Nigel Gilbert
EPRESS Project Director
Department of Sociology, University of Surrey,
Guildford, Surrey GU2 5XH
phone: 01483 259173
fax: 01483 259551
email: n.gilbert@surrey.ac.uk

Mr Stuart Peters EPRESS
Technical Officer
Department of Sociology,
University of Surrey,
Guildford, Surrey GU2 5XH
phone: 01483 259292
fax: 01483 259551
email: s.peters@surrey.ac.uk

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Project description

as of June 1998

Introduction

The rise of the Internet and World Wide Web has brought about new possibilities in scholarly journal publishing. Electronic journals (e-journals) are fast becoming an accepted part of academic culture. However, electronic publishing does not yet appear to offer the anticipated economic benefits. Two reasons for this are that the right production tools do not yet exist for an electronic framework, and e-journals sometimes do not benefit from the economies of scale that conventional publishers enjoy.

Electronic journals are often produced by a dispersed team, with academics from a number of institutions helping to put each issue of a journal together. To overcome these geographical constraints, EPRESS will develop a series of online tools to aid the flow of articles through the processes of electronic refereeing and publication. The tools will include many automated features, reducing the work of editorial administration and at the same time allowing immediate reporting of the status of articles, reviews and other aspects of journals.

Description

EPRESS will develop software to automate many of the repetitive tasks of e-journal production and aid those less experienced in the field of publishing through the processes involved with managing articles, reviews etc. This will lead to a more efficient publishing model, and will be one way that the knowledge gained by existing electronic publications can be passed on directly to new start-up projects. The software will run on a central server at the University of Surrey and will be accessible through a standard web browser allowing remote access from around the world. A prototype set of online databases and tools has already proved invaluable to Sociological Research Online, one of the successful projects of eLib.

A longer term objective of the project is to establish a framework so that one or two editorial assistants may produce a variety of

e-journals, thus achieving economies of scale. They will maintain a gateway web site offering access to all titles hosted at the service, administer subscriptions and will manage an electronic publishing resource site. Although some journal gateways and services already exist, none offer the range of tools to be provided by EPRESS.

Key Aims

EPRESS has three related aims, all of which should lead to more efficient electronic journal production and hence lower costs. These savings can be passed on directly to the academic community at an international level.

The key aims are:

to simplify electronic journal production by producing a series of highly automated online tools;

to pass on electronic publishing expertise and knowledge by building `good practice' into the online tools and making documentation available;

to foster new electronic journals by providing facilities to encourage new titles.

Deliverables

During the two year course of the project, EPRESS will:

develop a suite of online management tools to facilitate the production of electronic journals;

encourage the establishment of new ejournals by providing access to these management tools and offering support and documentation;

develop materials and provide resources for newcomers to help them understand the processes of electronic journal production;

establish a long term electronic journal service to last beyond the two year funded period.

Participants

The project team consists of Nigel Gilbert and Stuart Peters, based at the University of Surrey. The project will have an Advisory Board with representatives from a number of successful eLib and other electronic publishing projects.

This is one of the successful projects in the Electronic Journals and Pre-Prints Programme Area.