Editing Scientific journal (section)

==Electronic publishing==
{{Main article|Eprint|Electronic article|Electronic journal}}
Electronic publishing is a new area of information [[dissemination]]. One definition of electronic publishing is in the context of the scientific journal. It is the presentation of scholarly scientific results in only an electronic (non-paper) form. This is from its first write-up, or creation, to its publication or dissemination. The electronic scientific journal is specifically designed to be presented on the internet. It is defined as not being previously printed material adapted, or retooled, and then delivered electronically.<ref name=Heller/><ref name= Boyce-Dalterio/>

Electronic publishing will likely continue to exist alongside paper publishing for the foreseeable future, since whilst output to a screen is important for browsing and searching, it is not well suited for extensive reading. Formats suitable both for reading on paper, and for manipulation by the reader's computer will need to be integrated.<ref name=Heller/><ref name= Boyce-Dalterio/> Many journals are electronically available in formats readable on screen via [[Web browser|web browsers]], as well as in portable document format [[PDF]], suitable for printing and storing on a local desktop or laptop computer. New tools such as [[JATS]] and [[Utopia Documents]] provide a 'bridge' to the 'web-versions' in that they connect the content in PDF versions directly to the [[World Wide Web]] via hyperlinks that are created 'on-the-fly'. The PDF version of an article is usually seen as the [[version of record]], but the matter is subject to some debate.<ref name="Pettifer 2011">{{Cite journal |author1=Pettifer, S. |author2=McDermott, P. |author3=Marsh, J. |author4=Thorne, D. |author5=Villeger, A. |author6=Attwood, T.K. |title=Ceci n'est pas un hamburger: modelling and representing the scholarly article |journal=Learned Publishing |year=2011 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=207–220 |doi=10.1087/20110309 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Electronic counterparts of established print journals already promote and deliver rapid dissemination of peer-reviewed and edited, "published" articles. Other journals, whether spin-offs of established print journals, or created as electronic only, have come into existence promoting the rapid dissemination capability, and availability, on the Internet. In tandem with this is the speeding up of peer review, copyediting, page makeup, and other steps in the process to support rapid dissemination.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/148/WP02-12B.html;jsessionid=8E99F087A1E6FFEC3DBC59015C33BAF1|title=The Internet and the Velocity of Scholarly Journal Publishing|last=Swygart-Hobaugh|first=Rob Kling, Amanda J.|website=scholarworks.iu.edu|access-date=2016-10-26|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027060130/https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/148/WP02-12B.html;jsessionid=8E99F087A1E6FFEC3DBC59015C33BAF1|archive-date=2016-10-27}}</ref>

Other improvements, benefits and unique values of electronically publishing the scientific journal are easy availability of supplementary materials (data, graphics and video), lower cost, and availability to more people, especially scientists from non-developed countries. Hence, research results from more developed nations are becoming more accessible to scientists from non-developed countries.<ref name=Heller/>

Moreover, electronic publishing of scientific journals has been accomplished without compromising the standards of the refereed, [[peer review]] process.<ref name=Heller>
{{Cite encyclopedia| last =Heller| first =Stephen, R.| title =Electronic Publishing of Scientific Manuscripts| encyclopedia =Encyclopedia of Computational Chemistry| volume =02| pages =871–875| publisher =John Wiley & Sons| year =1998| url =http://www.hellers.com/steve/resume/p146.html| access-date =2010-06-16| url-status =live| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100703130753/http://www.hellers.com/steve/resume/p146.html| archive-date =2010-07-03}}</ref><ref name=Boyce-Dalterio>{{Cite journal| last =Boyce| first =Peter B.| author2 =Heather Dalterio| title =Electronic Publishing of Scientific Journals| journal =[[Physics Today]]| volume =49| issue =1| pages =42| publisher =American Institute of Physics| date =January 1996| url =http://aas.org/~pboyce/epubs/pt-art.htm#list| format =Article available to the public in HTML.| doi =10.1063/1.881598| bibcode =1996PhT....49a..42B| url-status =live| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110410072153/http://www.aas.org/~pboyce/epubs/pt-art.htm#list| archive-date =2011-04-10| url-access =subscription}}</ref>

One form is the online equivalent of the conventional paper journal. By 2006, almost all scientific journals have, while retaining their peer-review process, established electronic versions; a number have moved entirely to electronic publication. In a similar manner, most academic libraries buy the electronic version and purchase a paper copy only for the most important or most-used titles.

There is usually a delay of several months after an article is written before it is published in a journal, making paper journals not an ideal format for announcing the latest research. Many journals now publish the final papers in their electronic version as soon as they are ready, without waiting for the assembly of a complete issue, as is necessary with paper. In many fields in which even greater speed is wanted, such as [[physics]], the role of the journal at disseminating the latest research has largely been replaced by [[preprint]] databases such as [[arXiv.org]]. Almost all such articles are eventually published in traditional journals, which still provide an important role in [[quality control]], archiving papers, and establishing scientific credit.