LIJIA, YU SHUHUA: Traditional, electronic journals should be further integrated
Digital development of journals has become a megatrend around the world. (CFP)
For many years, China's journals have been debating over which format will play the leading role in future development—traditional or digital publishing. Meanwhile, a large percentage of foreign journal publishers have already embraced digital integration.
For instance, through integration, publishing giant Reed Elsevier possesses more than 2,500 kinds of journals, among which electronic documents on science and technology and medical science account for a quarter of the world total. Moreover, large foreign digital publishers cover the entire spectrum of planning, soliciting contributions, editing and publishing. Practice shows that collectivization, digitization and integration of traditional and electronic publishing have become megatrends in journal development across the world.
However, China is at a very early stage of digitizing printed journals. Though the ability to gather printed and digital resources is the basis and market share is the core competence, the key to digital integration is the ability to integrate traditional and electronic journals, content production and channel expansion.
The large databases in China, though they include almost all the national journals, only cover the lower end of digital publication and lack the ability to integrate. The reason is that the idea of digital integration has not received recognition, and the structural reform of journals in an effort to establish market-oriented enterprises is still in its preparatory phase. The reform is a preliminary exploration that neglects the factors of digital integration, leading to a result that is far from the original design.
Integration of e-journals is the initial stage of digital integration. At present, large journal databases in China have achieved a high level of integration for e-journals, laying a foundation for digital integration. In the future, the goal is to establish a common platform for all electronic journals, which can not only enhance its competitiveness but also lower the cost of reading.
Intensification of journal publication provides economic drive. Covering the overall process of editing, composing, printing and operation, it is an effective way to reduce cost and increase benefits.
Establishing groups for the purpose of publishing journals is the main objective and serves as a guarantee for an increase in the amount of publications. Though traditional organizations are being transformed into enterprises, public institutions still have great difficulty in achieving digital integration and share restructuring through marketization. It is necessary to resort to national administration to form large groups with high-level integration of traditional and electronic journals.
Increasing the scale of operations is inevitable, and it is an important approach to expanding publication. Applied mainly in marketing and also in other stages, such as planning, editing, composition and retrieval, it is a good way to improve performance.
In addition, internationalization of journal publication norms provides technical support. Through digital integration, large journal databases continue to play the leading role in formulating and implementing norms. Moreover, it is essential to absorb different opinions of the journal circle, amend and improve the existing norms on editing, composing while promoting integration with international rules in order to extend the influence of Chinese journals across the world.
To conclude, digital publication is a revolution in publishing and reading and even in the journal industry. It's undesirable to conduct institutional innovation toward traditional journals while neglecting digital development and the international trend of digital integration. We believe that integration in this industry must be focused on digital development, and it is digital integration that drives further reforms. And such integration based on digital development is the only road to system transition in the industry.
Li Jia and Yu Shuhua are from the Editorial Board of the Journal of South China University of Technology.
The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No. 659, October 22, 2014 Translated by Ren Jingyun