E-Publishing or Paper Print

Newspapers and book publishers should convert to electronic publishing over paper publishing as their primary product.

I really am a bit of a technological dinosaur. I really like having a book or paper in my hands to read. Especially, as some have already stated in the discussion board, I like to read before going to sleep. Not much of a problem if my book or paper happens to fall from my hands as I doze off. However, it could be a big problem for my laptop or PDA. Additionally, these devices and others needed to read e-books are still rather expensive. I can buy a whole lot of books for $300-$400! I, like many of us, sit in front of a computer screen for much of my work day, so I would rather not read my novel or newspaper from one.

All that said, aside from some obvious "creature comfort" and historical reasons that primarily revolve around pleasure reading, it may make great "business sense" to rely on e-publishing. Since business can not be competitive in today's market with out information technology, it makes very good financial sense to leverage technology for your business.

Advantages of Electronic Publishing over Paper Publishing

Publishing a journal electronically sounds very attractive. There are a number of good reasons for doing so, but it does have disadvantages too. Before committing yourself and your organization to the effort and expense involved, it is sensible to look carefully at both the advantages and disadvantages. In the end, the decision will depend on what your main objectives are, so it is important to be clear about why you are publishing, or planning to publish, in the first place: what information you want to disseminate, and to whom.

International reach

It is of course true that readers all over the world can in theory get hold of and read your journal (provided that they have the necessary equipment and, for online journals, Internet connections); you do not have to arrange for printed copies to be mailed to different parts of the world, which can be both expensive and slow.

Speed of publication

As soon as an article is ready for publication, it can be published; there is no need to wait for it to be printed and bound. And as soon as it is published, it is available to readers; there is no need to wait for it to arrive through the post. What is more, you do not need to wait until you have enough articles to make up a complete printed issue. You can, if you wish, publish articles individually as soon as they are ready (or even, if you wish, in accepted - but not yet finally edited - form). These time savings can be very helpful to authors, particularly in fast-moving subjects such as the sciences, where priority of publication is extremely important.

Additional capabilities

Of all the features, which are possible with electronic journals, linking - the ability to go directly from a citation in one article to the article to which it refers - is the one most valued by authors and readers.

Electronic publication also makes it possible to include material which you would not include in a print journal, either for space reasons or because the material is difficult, costly or even impossible to print. Research articles could be accompanied by the full data-sets from which the results were reached - ideally in a form which readers can manipulate for themselves, for instance to compare with their own or others' data. Color illustrations may be prohibitively expensive in a printed journal, but present no such problems in an electronic journal. Moving images, sound, or animations could also be included.

Reduced costs

If you decide to go without a print edition at all, you will save all the costs associated with printing and delivering a paper copy. However, for the relatively small print-run of a typical academic journal, print and delivery costs represent a small proportion of the overall costs, while all the editorial and 'first-copy' costs stay the same. . In particular, the costs of data handling and administration are usually increased. .

If you decide to offer both print and electronic versions, your print and delivery savings will of course be less, but your new, electronic, costs will remain the same.

What really seems to happen, when readers use an electronic journal, is that they print out the articles they want to read,

...