The Editor's Fence

"The place where the editor leans and talks to his neighbors."

—Hal Gerber, Founding Editor

The "Online World" of Journals

A year ago at this time I explained some of the changes underway at ELT (51.1). That subscription rates are now more comparable with other journals is not surprising after the exorbitant increases in postal rates in 2007, with another bump up in 2008. Even so our journal costs less than most quarterlies in the humanities. We have no angels to finance us with delicious sums of money, nor do we pray for them. We've grown accustomed to our independence. ELT remains largely self-supporting. In any event, rates have changed many times since 1957 when a volume cost $1.00.

The change that matters most is online publication, and what is going on with this journal may tell you more than you suspect about academic publishing. A few years ago I'd say with pleasure, "ELT has approximately 900 subscribers in over forty countries." Now the first number is fewer, and it is less important. The second number has changed, too; it's greater. Print subscriptions have declined in fact to approximately 650—print. I'm not displeased. Are you intrigued?

ELT is published online via several venues. The works of our authors, reviewers, and those reviewed are available to familiar and to new audiences. In general, the prestigious Project Muse serves research and large institutions. The sturdy MetaPress serves those libraries that do not subscribe to Project Muse and individuals. Periodicals for Public Libraries from the industrious EBSCO serves a range of public institutions, from U.S. high schools to universities in the Far East.

If I combine print and online, ELT has some 1600 subscribers. But that number doesn't mean as much as it once did. What is fascinating and unique to online publishing, the distinction, is this. As editor I can see how many articles and reviews are being downloaded. I can't see who but I can see the number of people who view even the contents pages (daily, weekly, monthly).

In this online world it's not the number of subscribers that is revealing. It's the number of articles and reviews accessed. It's the places of origin, the powerful international character of this way of publishing scholarly ideas. In 2007–2008 ELT found new readers in places near and far, from Taylorsville High School (North Carolina) to Mustafa Kemal University (Turkey), from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur to the National Library of China. Our audience is many times larger than in the past. Thousands of readers on thousands of computers downloaded an impressive number of articles and reviews from recent issues: over 7,000 in the last two years.

I trust you see what I mean. We are in the midst of profound changes. What are the implications? Will print fade when online versions are so affordable and widely available? Will editors be influenced in what they publish by what they glean from detailed reports, Excel spread-sheets? What new audiences may we reach? China has a population of 1.3 billion with a middle class estimated at 200 million, ambitious people intensely interested in the West and our institutions of higher education. What will it mean when online services are used in all the universities in China, not to mention the new universities to be built? And in India, as Mr. E. M. Forster might ask?

No one can answer these questions at present. May we agree that all of this holds excitement, great expectations? Did I hear someone say trepidations, too? I do know this. It's renewed the enthusiasm for what we do in one old editor I know.

Remembering Professor Karl Beckson

What never changes in publishing a journal is the need for top-flight scholars to share their expertise and time to help vet submissions. Karl Beckson, one of the best scholars in our field in the last quarter-century and longtime advisor to ELT, died in April of this past year.

Karl's name first appeared under the masthead in volume 24...