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Challenges for developed and developing countries

Despite the differences, the world desire one only result: to attend in the best possible ways the Internet user to spread data and to extend the universal knowledge

Valparaiso October 1º - The panel the afternoon started with the subject "The challenges for the scientific publishers in the Electronic Age", presented by Hooman Momen (momenh@who.int), editor of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO). "Electronic scientific journals have few acceptances among the users, authors and librarians. They are originally collectors and prefer printed publications". This phrase to opening the presentation could summarize all main challenges of the scientific publishers. In addition, could invalidate all the efforts done so far to optimize electronic publications. However, Momen kept going: "But there is a new generation that prefers the Internet and quite familiar to electronic publications. If today this generation is minority, tomorrow will not be."

Among the pointed challenges, to understand the necessities and desires of authors and readers, to harness actions (the sorrow for the free access grows each time) and to manage conflicts (for example, authors that want to publish more versus readers that would like to have less material to read as they are overloaded with the enormous amount of available information) are distinguished.

Moreover becomes important, especially in the developing countries, to offer cheaper access to Internet users.

"A successful site at least must consider some aspects", recommended Momen. They are items as relevance of content, optimize the browse systems and searches, set available quality and authenticated information. "It is vital that the user can find everything what they need in the site. Only with that it will be possible to concretize web faithfulness", explained.

Momen extended the subject of his presentation also showing some ways to surpass the challenges.

How to attract users?

Integration (crossed references)
E-mails with content summaries (e-toc)
Visibility (metadata)
Free scientific texts (or at least the abstract)

Which are the authors desires?

Peer-review - rigorous and transparent. It is a protection for the author themselves regarding to the quality of their work.
Good edition
Fast publication

Impact index - how many searches, downloads and readings (it is the prize of the author)
Archive (it gives the character of immortality that the author finds in printed publications)

How to attract authors?

Submission on-line (to eliminate copies in paper) - by email or softwares
Fast revision
Free access

"Friendly" copyright policies - to the author, all use is a justified use. The more copies made of their work, more popularity and professional credit. At the same time, it is essential to keep the integrity of the original article, therefore no author would like to have somebody "working" on his text, and the electronic publication must provide this security.

A step beyond

With all the above recommendations, Momen believes that any electronic scientific publication can reach visibility. However, if the publisher wants to go beyond and be on the top of the market, other topics must be considered as challenges:
Electronic production - which system, format and software are indicated.

Indexes - the new pointers of impact (visited or downlowed pages. Which are the most looked articles, subjects and authors? The answer would be use as base allows publishers to select articles and subjects to be published). The pointers always measure for the amount. The great challenge in this in case that it is to create politics that consider the real value of each article.

Metadata - To determine the use of the information.

Standardization - who will elaborate the parameters? How will they be verified? Do the authors follow these new rules? Who will be responsible for the quality control?

Challenges of the Website

The constant and we hope perpetual, questioning of webdesigners: how to elaborate an attractive, informative, easy site to use, with efficient, interactive searchers, well linked (with references), with support information and services that may provide the user attach to the site.

Statisticians - the user profile is a powerful tool for the conception of an efficient electronic publication. There are ways to check from where the user came (country), which way that he used to arrive, that type of search tools he is using and which terms he is searching to arrive to the electronic publication, among other information.

Access - The majority readers and authors desires free access.

Indexation - Scientific disciplines have independent work with independent index and it is necessary to establish connection with all of them. As it was presented in the first lecture of the conference, the Internet allows new formats of work, such as video, audio, graphical, and the doubt that must be clarified quickly is how to make the integration of these formats. "Besides defining witch professional they must carry through peer-review in set with scientists. Who can guarantee the integrity of a video, for example ", Momen question.

Challenges for libraries

High cost of the electronic signatures.

Archive - which is the definitive copy (the original or the revised one); who is the responsible for the archive (the journal or the library). It is important to consider that the authors also search immortality.

Currently, it has a vicious circle regarding to paid value for a signature in the scientific journals. The high cost reduces the amount of users and, consequently, the dissemination of an article. Momen believes extending the databases, lowering the costs and making possible the free access or a low price for the users could be ways to break the circle. Following this though, how to support a good electronic publication scientific that needs high technology? This is the financial challenge. Probably the most complicated to surpass.

The options, in the Momen's opinion to charge the author for free access (since they would pay for reprints on a printed journal), search for partnerships with investors; advertising and paid services to users. The WHO editor rejects the pay-per-view article option.

Ethical challenges

"We can say that the Internet increased enormously the copy and plagiarizes possibilities, extending doubt on digital integrity. What kind of tools can detect this piracy ", questioned the speaker.
To participant's discussion, Momen locked up his lecture showing that there are challenges, which are being argued by developed countries that certainly will be on electronic scientific publisher's future concern:
Internet will be payable?
Will be authors the archivists of their own papers?
Will the reviewers continue to revise articles for free?
Will the articles remain in two dimensions?
Will the free access be standard?

Fortified communication

On the sequence of the panel, Abel Packer (packerab@bireme.ops-oms.org), director of the BIREME/PAHO/WHO, showed that SciELO visits number is equivalent to its impact number. This was the opening of the explanation about SciELO project.

The SciELO objectives are to fortify the scientific communication, to spread developing countries scientific journals with medium and high quality, measure the use and impact of these publications and to increase the visibility, accessibility and credibility of science in the developing countries.

The program works to develop an electronic publication model and contribute for the creation and implementation of national politics of scientific communication. With these lines of action, SciELO will be capable to develop an index to be the base of programs and national politics of scientific journals.

SciELO is a successful example that is possible to sustain scientific publications only in electronic format and the methodology and the technology of the system are the main support and the constant challenge of this project.

For the future, the objective is to update and optimize the quality control of SciELO, increasing the use and the exchange of information on peer-review and experiences.

Mexican index

Jose Octavio Alonso Gamboa (oalonso@servidor.unam.mx), head of the Latin American Bibliography Department of the Universidad Autónoma de Mexico, presented, in the sequence, the Latindex, a system of information for journals of research published in Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal.
The program developed two databases. The Directory is an ample inventory that covers all journals. Catalogue, instead, is a publication that fills international publishing standards.

On total amounts, Latindex congregates 11,562 registered headings come of 29 countries (out.2002). Brazil corresponds to 2,885 headings (25%).

On the development of the Mexican system, the cooperation has been basic. Although their bibliographical character, both databases offer to the user links for electronic publication projects on developed scientific journals in the Latin American region.

"One of our challenges is the standardization of the data", said Gamboa. This problem happens although the Latindex follows criterias based on four centers: basic features, journals design, politics and publishing management and content (original papers e.g.).

As positive results of the Latindex initiative, Gamboa said that it had a substantial increase of the accepted headings in the system.

For the next years, the main objective is to transform the Latindex into an index of electronic research. Inside of it will have electronic publication collections as the Hemeroteca Nacional Universitária (www.icfes.gov.co), Hispaniola Online (www.pucmm.edu.do/hispaniola/), SciElo (www.scielo.br), Hispania Nova (hispanianova.rediris.es), among others.

www.latindex.unam.mx

African Experience

To lock up the panel, Roger Stringer (roger@inasp.info), publishing consultant of the International Network for the Availability of Scietific Publications (INASP), presented two projects of support to the scientific communication in Africa.

The first one is the African Journals Online (AJOL - www.inasp.info/ajol). The system offers to user's access on tables of content, African scientific publication summaries and a delivery service of unavailable Internet documents. Currently, the AJOL has 3,000 users, with a grow rate of 100 users per month.
Problems they work with:
Inefficient publications management (time publications irregular, difficulty in finding the information);
Unexpressive content - generally they receive articles internationally rejected;
Barriers for complete text on-line access.

All these factors explain the difficulty of the African journals in competing with the international ones.

To try to low the difficulties down, the INASP initiated AJOPP (African Journals Online Publishing Project). The 10 more important periodicals scientific of Africa had been selected (4 agriculturists, 1 of health, 3 of sciences and technology and 4 of social sciences). The system allow to user complete texts. "We are evaluating how much it increases the use and sustainability of the journals", Stringer said.

The two projects of the INASP include public health, sciences, human science and agriculture.

Congratulations

In the end of the day Ana María Prat, assessor of the presidency of the Comisión Nacional de Investigación Cientifica y Tecnológica (CONICYT) informed the participants of the ICSEP that the Eletronic Journal of Biotechnology (EJB - www.ejb.org), of Chile, was accepted in the ISI.

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