11.0263 academic journals: use, history & sociology?

Humanist Discussion Group (humanist@kcl.ac.uk)
Fri, 12 Sep 1997 20:40:43 +0100 (BST)

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 11, No. 263.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>

[1] From: James R Hamilton <hamilton@ksu.edu> (16)
Subject: Re: query concerning print serials

[2] From: Patrick Durusau <pdurusau@emory.edu> (23)
Subject: History/Sociology of Academic Journals

--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 16:31:12 -0500 (CDT)
From: James R Hamilton <hamilton@ksu.edu>
Subject: Re: query concerning print serials

Our university, like many others, is going through yet another upheaval
concerning cuts in print serials. We are trying to find the right mix of
serials, monographs, and electronic retrieval of serial publications.

We believe, mostly on the basis of anecdotal self-observations, that
the actual uses of these various research and teaching resources varies
considerably from discipline to discipline (and even among
sub-disciplines). But we have as yet found no way to provide the kind of
hard and convincing evidence that would be an appropriate basis for a
sound policy.

Do any of you have experience with gathering reliable information about
use variations?

Please reply directly to me, off list.

Regards,

James R. Hamilton, Head
Department of Philosophy (913) 532-6758
Kansas State University hamilton@ksu.edu
Manhattan, KS 66506

[Answers to the above would, I think, be of interest to other members of
Humanist, so perhaps those who reply would send copies to Humanist as
well. --WM]

--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 08:09:55 -0400
From: Patrick Durusau <pdurusau@emory.edu>
Subject: History/Sociology of Academic Journals

In a discussion of the credibility of academic e-journals a poster (on
another list) suggested that "...major pieces will not be submitted
until there is credibility, and credibility will not be bestowed until
there are major pieces..." (That snippet does not reflect the entire
posting which also addresses the amount of committment to form an
electronic journal versus a print one and other issues.)

While I have seen comparisons of electronic publishing with the
invention of the printing press, I was wondering if any Humanist readers
are familiar with any historical/sociological treatments of the rise of
the modern academic journal? Of particular interest would be any
treatments of how such journals were viewed by the academic community.
Were such journals always viewed as credible or is the present
credibility of the Journal of the American Oriental Society (JAOS), for
example, the result of a credibility building process? (I choose JAOS
because it began publication in the mid-19th century and is one of the
leading journals in its field.)

If this if of interest to the list generally, I will create a short
annotated bibliography of the suggested sources for posting to the list.

Many thanks.

Patrick

Patrick Durusau
Information Technology
Scholars Press
pdurusau@emory.edu

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