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| EDITORIAL ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY ....MOVING FROM SCIENCE TO DEVELOPMENT... |
| Electronic publishing and paperless scientific communication, are we ready? Electronic
publishing of scientific journals has many potential advantages over
print publishing. Electronic journals are cheaper, faster, more accessible,
more editable, more mobile, and more linkable. These advantages led
many scientists in the early 1980s to predict that we would soon move
to paperless scientific communications. Now in the early years of the
21st century, the transition to electronic writing, reading
and editing seems to be stalled in the sciences. Although we have more
electronic-only journals, such as the Electronic Journal of Biotechnology
and most printed journals have an electronic version, many scientists
still work with a paper copy of an article and most libraries maintain
bound volumes of printed journals. We haven't made the transition to
paperless communication as quickly or as completely as some scientists
expected.
There are many reasons for the slow transition to paperless communication. Perhaps most important is the lack of a more readable product in electronic versus print formats. A printed copy of a paper is easier to read and edit than an electronic copy. Of course it is more convenient now to print a portable document file (PDF) of a paper from an electronic journal than to make a copy of the paper from a print journal at a library. Nonetheless a better desktop or laptop environment is needed to make electronic papers easier to read and edit. In addition, as readers become more comfortable reading papers on a computer screen and as reading habits change, we will become an increasingly paperless community. Many scientists are now comfortable writing papers directly into a word processor, so it may only be a matter of time before reading and editing on a computer is a common practice. Besides readability, journal subscribers are still maintaining paper copies because they are concerned about the long-term storage and readability of electronic copies. Electronic archives are maintained either through journal websites or on electronic storage devices, such as CD-ROMs. Although electronic archives are easier to search, faster to use, more accessible to multiple users and require less storage space than paper archives, they may not be as stable and accessible over a longer time period. These archives may become inaccessible as hardware and/or software changes. Electronic archives may also degrade faster than paper archives. In addition, although most journals have indicated that they will maintain electronic archives and will convert formats as technological changes occur, it is not clear what may happen to archives of journals that cease to exist. What is needed for improved readability and long-term storage are common protocols and standard formats in technology. Paper was invented about 1900 years ago and it remains the most popular form for written communications. In the electronic age of publishing, there is no popular form comparable to paper right now. Not many protocols or formats that are being used today would be considered a long-term standard. The technology is still changing at a rapid pace. I will not try to describe the evolving variety of hardware technology and programming languages that are being considered to create common protocols or standard formats for electronic scientific publishing. Rather I will briefly describe a relatively simple example of a developing standard format that will help us achieve paperless communication. Perhaps the simplest language that can be standardized for electronic publishing is the universal language of mathematics. A consortium of publishers is currently creating a common set of fonts for mathematical and special characters for scientific, technological and medical journals (see www.stixfonts.org). They have a review board that decides on the style and type of each character and then they develop the character for flexible and easy use across all typesetting languages. They expect to create about 8000 characters and they have about 65% of the project completed as of March 2003. Hopefully this will make all mathematical and special characters portable, legible and easier to read on computer screens regardless of the hardware and software platform being used by the reader. Stixfonts is an important step toward paperless communication. In addition we will need some common protocols and standard formats in hardware, programming languages and human languages. These will take more time to develop, but hopefully not as long as the time to convert from writing on papyrus to paper (about 3000 years) or the time to convert from handwritten to printed paper (about 1500 years). We have not fully converted from paper to electronic in the past 20 years of online publishing, a slow pace by 21st century standards; however, we will probably be much closer to paperless communication within the next 10 years. So as long as we have electricity or a source of power, we can communicate with anyone at any time in any place. And if the electricity does go out, then perhaps it is time to leave the computers behind and enjoy some sunshine or a starry night. If we save some more paper, there may be a few more trees to enjoy too. Linda
Rowan |
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