| Oncology Journals and the Internet | | 太极医疗保健网 来源： | 字体： 放大 还原 缩小 | | | Special Report
Oncology Journals and the Internet -- A Shared Resource
Melissa McKie, MLS
Cancer Control 6(6):627-635, 1999. © 1999 H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Inc
Introduction
The Internet has many beneficial implications for electronic journals. Electronic dissemination via either e-mail or the World Wide Web allows for wider availability of the contents of specialized, limited-circulation publications such as oncology journals.[1] The ability to click from an abstract or citation to the full text of an article on the Internet is changing the way journals are used and perceived by readers. This new approach to sharing important and updated information appears in various electronic formats - as print online journals that reflect all or part of their print counterparts, as e-journals that are published solely on the Internet, and as e-prints, in which articles are posted without (or before) undergoing the traditional peer-review process. Each of these formats has advantages and disadvantages that are both unique and similar, as described below.
What Are Print Online Journals?
Print online journals are developed as alternatives, supplements, or replicas of their corresponding print journals. Electronic replicas of print journals have the same sections, issues, and page numbers, and each includes a picture of the cover.[2] The information can be downloaded or printed. The majority of electronic journals are in this form. In some instances, however, the electronic version may include only some of the sections found in the print version or may include additional sections not found in the print version. Some publishers offer more than editorial articles on their Websites. Examples include Nature's International Grants Finder and Science's Next Wave (which offers GrantsNet with support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute). Science's Enhanced Perspectives provides an overview of recent research and includes hypernotes to Websites of other relevant information. Tables 1-4 present a selection of oncology-related electronic journals that are currently available.
Advantages of Print Online Journals
Print online journals can be remotely accessed through the World Wide Web. They are interactive, meaning they can be linked with other media such as sound and video, thus creating an interactive multimedia presentation. Journals on the Web can be easily and quickly searched via keywords, abstracts, authors, titles, and issue numbers. An online discussion among peers about an article that appears in a particular issue can be immediate. With print versions, readers must wait for the printed editorials and replies. When an error occurs, readers may remain unaware of the erratum until it appears in the next print version, whereas an error can be correctly quickly in an electronic version.
The reference section or other areas in an electronic article can link to the corresponding source on the Internet. This means that if another article or author is referenced within an article, it is possible to link to the citation or even to the full text. In many cases, an electronic issue appears on the Internet before the printed version gets to its readers via the postal mail.
Electronic versions provide another advantage in relation to continuing medical education. Electronic journals that offer CME online offer the reader the option of completing the test without mailing or faxing - and often with instant notification of the score.
Disadvantages of Print Online Journals
Print online journals are a relatively new concept, and libraries, publishers, subscription vendors, and readers are still working on their intricacies. Electronic journals come in many formats such as PDF and RealPage; this means that users must have the correct corresponding software installed on their computers to view the article. Most of the additional software required to view full-text articles is available on the Internet to download without charge. However, the user must know how to download and use the software. Although most publishers provide instructions or links to the instructions, the ability of the users to easily comprehend these instructions may vary considerably.
A print online journal can appear on more than one site on the Internet. Full-text journals may be found on the Websites of the publisher, database vendors, the subscription vendors, and/or an aggregator (eg, Ideal, BioMedNet, Ingenta). A URL (Universal Resource Locator) is basically an address used to locate a site on the Internet. However, locating a journal's URL can be confusing or frustrating.
Password requirements also present some frustration to users. Each electronic publisher has its unique way of allowing subscribers access to its journals. Some use passwords, and others provide access via IP addresses (ie, access is available only to computers within an institution that has paid a fee for online availability). Recalling numerous different passwords for electronic journals can be frustrating the reader. However, an institution's medical library Web pages and/or the library's online catalog could avoid the need for passwords by providing a direct link to various journal URLs along with brief instructions for using the Website of a particular journal or that of a database vendor's journal.
What Are E-Journals?
E-journals do not have a corresponding print version. They exist solely in digital format on the Internet and are not always published by traditional publishers. However, full-text journals on the Internet are often referred to as online, electronic, and e-journals almost interchangeably. The clarifying difference between print online journals and e-journals is that the e-journal's format is available only as an electronic version from submission to publication. E-journals have evolved in part as a result of a "serials crisis" (ie, subscription prices continue to rise beyond library budgets).[3] Generally, e-journals are free to the reader, with the only requirement being accessibility to the Internet (Table 5). Fees for e-journals generally are low because their reproduction and distribution costs are greatly reduced. However, upfront costs can be the same or even higher than costs associated with print publishing.
Some e-journals have editorial boards and undergo the peer-review process. However, the peer-review format may differ from the traditional process.
Advantages of E-Journals
E-journals are user-friendly either by e-mail or by the Web, and they are easily searchable with the search engines in place today. E-journals also allow for more publishing by authors, whereas traditional journals have limited space and capacity. More articles can be published in e-journals, and those articles can be longer because e-journals are not limited by the physical constraints of print journals. Traditional journals are slow to publish, and articles may be outdated by the time they appear. E-journals speed up the publication process and thus provide an advantage in publishing time-sensitive material.
Some e-journals are also indexed in MEDLINE, a free database provided by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and composed of abstracts from medical journals used mostly by doctors and researchers. According to the NLM, the number of searches conducted annually on MEDLINE has increased from 7 million to 180 million since 1997 (USA Today. July 14, 1999:5D). Examples of electronic-only journals (e-journals) indexed by the NLM are Women's Health and the Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials. With more than 190 citations, the Online Journal of Current Clinical Trials has a significant impact on the medical field,[4] especially since it has been published only since 1992 and has no corresponding print version. The journal Pediatrics includes original, peer-reviewed research articles in its electronic pages that are not included in the print version of the journal.
Disadvantages of E-Journals
Archiving is a major issue that needs to be resolved with both electronic journals and e-journals. With electronic journals, libraries can subscribe to both print and electronic versions and can archive the printed issue. However, due to cost constraints, some libraries are now subscribing only to online access. Hypertext links (hypertext is an electronic system of cross-referencing) is another issue for both electronic journals and e-journals. Who will maintain them when URLs change or disappear altogether?[5]
Copyright is yet another issue. The electronic information age has made copyright infringement a concern. However, it is interesting to note that when photocopiers became available, the same was said of print journals. Because an electronic copy is easily duplicated and distributed, it is more important for publishers to restrict access. Currently, publishers and readers enter into a license agreement to regulate how the online journal is used and who can access its content.
Finally, the issues of credibility and prestige affect online publishing: will oncologists and other medical professionals be enticed to publish in e-journals that may lack the prestige associated with print journals that have existed for 300 years?[6]
E-Prints
E-prints (electronic preprints and reprints) are versions of articles that have been circulated via the Internet before publication in a peer-reviewed journal.[7] E-print servers allow these to be available though the Web. In 1991, an e-print server for high-energy physics was established.[8] This e-print server has been effective for high-energy physics; the server receives approximately 25,000 submissions per month and has 35,000 users per day. It has not led to the downfall of peer review, and peer-reviewed journals are next in line for most e-prints after review and revision. The question is which traditional peer-reviewed journals will publish e-prints? The delay time for agreeing on a publishable version of an article is greatly reduced with e-prints. It remains to be seen if an e-print server in biomedicine or clinical medicine is helpful. Some currently available e-prints are listed in Table 6.
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