by Suzanne Grudzinski
The University has long been home to a rich selection of scholarly journals, offering insights and developments in a broad range of fields. Today, increasingly, those insights are only a click away.
A visit to the University Web page listing at www.albany.edu/libraries_research/electronic_journals.html offers a quick glimpse of the changing nature of journal publication and the breadth of scholarly activity at the University. Beginning at that page alone, you can quickly access discussions of mathematical problems, opinions on the value of movies as teaching tools in law enforcement courses, audio sound files of lectures by distinguished scholars, essays, poems, newspaper articles, and listings of the contents of certain journals.
These virtual explorations highlight not only the strengths of the journals, but the academic quality of University programs, as well, for, as Edna Acosta-Belén of the Department of Latin American and Caribbean Studies notes, "supporting strong journals is important because a journal is an excellent indication of the intellectual activity that is taking place throughout a campus."
In the past, journals were available only in a print medium and via snail mail. Now, increasing numbers of journals are adding electronic components and the "Electronic Journals" web page reflects the different approaches to electronic publishing that have been taken at the University. Scholarly opinion is divided over what effect electronic publishing will have on the integrity and reputation of journals.
For Sean Anderson, a graduate student in the Department of Criminal Justice and founding and current editor along with Greg Howard of the Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, electronic journals are not the future, but the now. The journal began in 1993 when Anderson and Howard began asking how they could incorporate technology into the classroom. They wanted more than the basic online discussions offered in some classes. They also wanted to design a forum where issues in popular culture would be taken seriously and where those interested could engage in and publish scholarly dialogue. The creation of their journal, a completely online, peer-reviewed publication was the answer to each of these desires.
Anderson asserts that online journals are unique in that they try to "battle the segmentation between disciplines." As long as the article is sound and passes through the peer-review process, then the profession of the person who wrote it is insignificant. "In more traditional journals, these people weren't given the chance to speak and make their point heard," says Anderson, whose journal supports a multiplicity of voices. "With some journals, style takes precedence over content. These journals are limiting themselves," he adds.
The criminal justice journal currently has about 3,000 subscribers and averages about 15 new subscriptions a month. It is also incorporated into classes at Albany as well as at the University of Louisville (KY). Initially, the choice to go online hindered the Journal and it was not afforded the respect the editors felt it deserved, but this was overcome in a short time.
"It now has outstanding support internationally," said Anderson. He mentioned positive feedback from such prominent figures as linguist Noam Chomsky and Thomas Szasz, a Syracuse University psychiatrist working to abolish labels of mental illness.
"There is unlimited potential in this medium and more and more people are beginning to grasp it," he explains. The Journal of MultiMedia History, which was started this past fall by editors Gerald Zahavi and Julian Zelizer of the Department of History, shares this view. Its website reads, "we wanted to `get out on the Web,' to reach not only academicians, but an entire universe of interested readers."
Mark Steinberger of the Department of Mathematics and editor-in-chief of the New York Journal of Mathematics has also found online success. The journal, which began online in 1994, is high-quality and selective. Steinberger backs that claim up with numbers: a single paper monitored over the course of a week was accessed 184 times here and these results are mirrored in 33 places worldwide by the European Mathematical Society.
"We also do a lot of things that other journals don't," adds Steinberger. The persons reading the journal are given the opportunity to click on individual theorems, linking them to an explanation, which allows them to understand the argument more thoroughly. The New York Journal of Mathematics also has a search function that sets it apart from many of the other online journals.
Another journal at the University that has taken future in hand is The Little Magazine. Founded in 1965, it was originally a print publication featuring experimental prose and poetry. Christina Milletti, graduate student in the Department of English and one of four current editors, says that in 1995 the magazine changed its image to an electronic journal published exclusively for the World Wide Web and in CD-ROM format. The Little Magazine is currently working on its biggest project yet, an international anthology of hypermedia literature, called "Gravitational Intrigue: An Anthology of Emerging Hypermedia."
Not all journals, however, are published online. Some are still exploring electronic publishing. Acosta-Belén is also the founding and current editor along with Carlos Santiago, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, of The Latino Review of Books, an academic journal started in 1995 that links U.S. Latinos with their countries of origin.
She says that putting the journal online is a goal that the editors would like to explore in the near future. The Review currently has an informational website listing its mission statement as well as abstracts of current and past issues. Acosta-Belen foresees that an online journal will become increasingly important as more libraries experience space problems from growing numbers of books. The Latino Review has already grown through available technologies, by linking to 16 professional networks and organizations and connecting to websites nationally and internationally.
Ramaswamy Sarma of the Department of Chemistry and current editor-in-chief of the Journal of Biomolerular Structure and Dynamics agrees that there are advantages to electronic components, but he also explains that they are limited.
"Technology changes so fast. Machines are continually being outdated. So even though online journals are fashionable right now, they have no long-term benefits," says Sarma. His journal started in 1983 and in 1997 found it useful to add an online supplement composed of abstracts and journal instructions. Sarma adds that there has not been much demand for a completely online version.
Richard Hall of the Department of Sociology and current editor of the Sociological Forum supports this point of view: "1 see electronic journals in the future, but there are a lot of issues along the way that need to be resolved.
"First of all, I'm not sure if the field of social sciences is ready," and he adds that because electronic journals are unconventional they raise strong concerns about quality control and true peer-review. Hall also notes that online journals run the risk of bypassing important people who are not yet online either because of an age gap, socioeconomic variables, or other intervening circumstances.
Yet Sociological Forum is the fourth most cited journal in sociology out of hundreds. "A journals success depends on how often it is cited and used," said Hall. "If you publish material online and no one cites it, then it is just floating in cyberspace."
One such journal that successfully exists only in cyberspace is Writer's Online, a publication of the New York State Writers Institute. Created in 1996 by Associate Director Donald Faulkner, it quickly became clear that the paper version could not be produced as efficiently as the online version. Soon the printed version was abandoned. The electronic magazine compiles reviews, interviews, and feature articles on the writers and books shaping contemporary literature, as well as selected transcripts of conference events, seminars, and readings taken from the continually expanding Institute archives. Supplementing the Institute's Visiting Writers Series, there is a special focus on the many notable writers that visit the Institute. The editors call this contemporary magazine for and about writers, "a valuable resource for anyone seeking an overview of today's literary culture."
