“The more things change, the more they stay the same...”:

Why digital journals differ so little from paper

Michael A MabeCEO, STM

&Visiting Professor, Information Science,

University College, London

Prof. Sir D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson

On Growth and Form

First Published 1917

Some things stay much the same...

From this... ...to this

Other things change a lot...

From this... ...to this...

No article structure

Highly structured

Fundamental needs of researchers (I)

AUTHOR MODE• To be seen to report an idea first• To feel secure in communicating that idea• [For empirical disciplines] To persuade

readers that their results are general and arise from enactment of the scientific method

• To have their claim accepted by peers• To report their idea to the right audience• To get recognition for their idea• To have a permanent public record of their

work

Fundamental Needs of Researchers (II)

READER MODE• To identify relevant content• To select based on trust and authority• To locate and consume it• To cite it• To be sure it is final and permanent

9

Functions of the journal à la Oldenburg

• Date stamping or priority via registration• Quality stamping through peer-review• Recording the final, definitive, authorised

versions of papers and archiving them• Dissemination to targeted scholarly

audience • [Added later] For readers, search and

navigation– Achieved via creation and then management

of the “journal brand”• (journal title and its associated attributes for

researchers)

• [We must be] very careful of registring as well the person and time of any new matter.., as the matter itselfe; whereby the honor of ye invention will be inviolably preserved to all posterity.

[Oldenburg, 24 November 1664]• all Ingenious men will be thereby incouraged to impart their

knowledge and discoveryes[Oldenburg, 3 December 1664]

• [I should not] neglect the opportunity of having some of my Memoirs preserv’d, by being incorporated into a Collection, that is like to be as lasting as usefull

[Boyle, 1665]• “[Phil. Trans. should be] licensed under the charter by the Council

of the Society, being first reviewed by some of the members of the same.”

[R.Soc. Order in Council 1/3/1665]

Inventing the Journal: Oldenburg’s Letters

Evidence of researcher needs

Data from 36,188 Authors; 0= unimportant10= very important

2=

1

6

5

7

8

4

2=

QUALITY&SPEED

Source: Elsevier Author Feedback Programme

CERTIFICATION

REGISTRATION

Motivations for Publishing

57%

20%

13%8%

2%

18%

27%

40%

15%

3%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Disseminateresults

Further mycareer

Future funding Recognition Establishprecedence

1993. B. R. Coles: “STM Information System in the UK”. Royal Society/ ALPSP/ British Lib.

1st most important motivation (93)

2nd most important motivation (93)

Motivations for Publishing

57%

20%

13%8%

2%

18%

27%

40%

15%

3%

73%

13%

5% 5% 4%

11%

26% 25%20%

16%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Disseminateresults

Further mycareer

Future funding Recognition Establishprecedence

1993. B. R. Coles: “STM Information System in the UK”. Royal Society/ ALPSP/ British Lib.

2005. Elsevier/NOP study What would you say are the two most important motivations for publishing? Base: (6344)

1st most important motivation (93)

2nd most important motivation (93)

1st most important motivation (05)

2nd most important motivation (05)

Motivational change over 10 years

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

Disseminateresults

Further mycareer

Futurefunding

Recognition Establishprecedence

First most important motivation 93/05 diffSecond most important motivation 93/05 diff

Similarities

• Form follows function...

... and function follows need

• At a macro/fundamental level– researcher human needs change little over

time...

... so functions remain constant

... and gross form remains stable

Example from 10 May 2009

Example from 14 November 1985

Example from 19 February 1672

Form follows function: macro level

• Relatively short articles• Author names prominent• Dates of submission, acceptance,

publication present• Registration, certification, dissemination

and archive achieved simultaneously via the act of formal publication

• Branded by journal title

Differences

• Form follows function...

... and function follows need

• At a micro/detailed level, as researcher populations increase

– Need for independent trust and authority grows... rhetorical mechanisms are more important

...increased formalisation of structure...exemplars of scientific method

Form & Function: Micro Level Registration

Registration &Certification

Navigation

Navigation &rhetoric

Article levelrhetoric

Whole article:archive

Journal level v article level effects

• Journal– Brand (title)

• Certification• Dissemination (channel and scoping)

– Citation (article referent)• Navigation and Dissemination• Certification

• Article (with journal branding and referent)– Act of publication

• Registration• Macro Rhetoric: Evaluated public formal affadavit

– Internal structure• Micro Rhetoric: argument and language

Philosophical status

Ideas/beliefs knowledgeepistemologicalengine

Philosophical status

Results/observationsKnowledgepro tempore

Act of formal publication

ACCEPTANCE AS FACTACCEPTANCE AS FACT

CRITICAL EVALUATION

COMMUNICATIONOBSERVATIONOBSERVATION

Private Co-workers Invisible college Speciality Discipline Public

research

Peer reviewed paperin a journal

Pre-print

monograph historytextbook

referencework

Review

paperprizes

Sciencejournalism

Draftfor

comment

1st

draft Seminar/workshop/conferenceDraftmss

Create

Discuss& revisit

Criticism

Formalpublic

evaluation

Formalconfirmation

Acceptance& integration

Macro Rhetoric and Articles

Micro Rhetoric of Articles

• Publication is not just communication

• Articles are written to persuade readers that

– a singular observation made by one observer is generally true for all observers at all times

– the research reported is an enactment of the idealised scientific method

Micro Rhetoric of Articles

• The structure and language of an article reflect these intentions– standardised impersonal sections

• methods, results, discussion etc.

– passive voice, generalised language• E.g., “A reaction was observed...” NOT “I saw...”

– embedding the article in network of other articles through reference and citation

– using others results to support the conclusions

• See: A G Gross Rhetoric of Science

Scholarly Communication & Information Ecology• Communication Dimensionality

– Mode• 1:1, 1:many, many:many

– Directionality• unidirectional, interactive

– Delivery regime• oral, written

– Temporality• Live or recorded

– Register:• private, public, informal, formal

– Enhancement: • local, at a distance

• Case of an oral lecture (like this!)– Mode: one-to-many– Directionality: unidirectional (except for Q&A)– Delivery regime: oral – Temporality: live– Register: public, formal– Enhancement: in the lecture hall none

• but technology allows development to “at a distance”– broadcast, but reduced directionality– webcast, no reduced directionality

Scholarly Communication & Information Ecology: An Example

Deliveryregime Mode Old          New            

      Instances    Directionality   Instances       Directionality                                

Oral One-to-one in person conversation verbal question   instant messaging 

audiovisual verbal question  

                     

      telephone conversation verbal question   Voip 

telephony     verbal question  

                               

  One-to-many lecture/conference talk verbal question   instant messaging 

audiovisual verbal question  

                           television broadcast n/a     web video      email                                   

Written One-to-one letters   letter reply   email   email  

                               

  One-to-many printed publication

counter publicationWritten correspondence

 

web based publication

blogs

  rapid response commentaries

                                                              

  Many-to-many n/a   n/a   wikis   in-built  

              e whiteboards   in-built                                 

Future Change

• Formal scholarly publishing system has evolved to satisfy– Human needs of researchers– Philosophical requirements of knowledge

generation

...and to occupy its– Information ecological niches

• Needs and niches are relatively constant over time

• Conservatism of form reflects this constancy• Technology enables greater efficiency

– New tools, but new tools for old purposes

Future Change II

• New dimensions to “natural selection” pressures?– Sustainability of business models– Group wish think– Mythical “killer app”?

• Post “asteroid” mass extinction?

Independent evolution of the eye

Questions?

mabe@stm-assoc.org