The Journal of Neuroscience, May 15, 1999, 19(10):F3-F3
EDITORIAL
All-Electronic Rapid Communications
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ARTICLE |
With this issue the Journal of Neuroscience
launches a pioneering initiative in journal publishing: all-electronc
Rapid Communications (RCs). The aim is to publish short articles of
timely importance and broad interest as rapidly as possible, using the
advantages of electronic publishing.
The first advantage will be a significant reduction in the
delay between the time that a manuscript is approved by the editors to
the time that it is published in the online journal. The aim is to
reduce that time to less than 1 month while still maintaining the high
standards of copy editing and data presentation that are associated
with the journal. This represents a considerable improvement over the
time in press for the hard-copy version, 2-3 months, as in other journals.
The format for the RC articles will be the same as for regular
articles. The articles will have a high profile in the journal because
they will appear at the top of the table of contents at the beginning
of each issue. Citations will indicate these articles by RC. Details
regarding submission of articles will be found in the revised
Instructions for Authors.
The next improvement will come with all-electronic submission
and review of articles. We have been actively investigating this
direction during the past year, but the methods are only now being
developed that will ensure that these processes are error-free and
cost-efficient. We anticipate that this development will reach fruition
during the coming year. The benefits will reduce the delay of papers
under review even further. In addition, the benefits will accrue to
submission of regular papers to the journal.
Although the electronic age has promised developments such as
all-electronic publishing for several years, the challenge of working
out the details has been enormous to ensure the level of excellence
expected by our authors and readers (to say nothing of avoiding the
multitude of unexpected annoyances when formats do not work and
software is incompatible). The journal welcomes suggestions on solving
these problems and moving effectively into the new electronic medium
while retaining the advantages and qualities of hard-copy printing.
The basic premise underlying the all-electronic Rapid
Communications has been that they meet the same high standards of
scholarship that apply to the regular articles in the journal. We will
maintain that principle above all else as we take the next steps into
the electronic era of journal publishing.
Gordon M.
Shepherd
Editor-in-Chief
Copyright © 1999 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/99/1910F3-01$05.00/0