JDoc

Those who are used to browse and read Journal of Documentation (JDoc) might have noticed that the quality of this journal declined a bit compared to a few years a go. I was told that the editorial board of the JDoc resigned altogether as an objection when it was sold to Emerald Publication. However it is still one of the most accretided and prestigious journals in LIS.

In fact in all scientific fields, the scientists are unhappy with the gradual take over of academic journals by commercial publishers such as Elsevier, Blackwell and the like. A few decades ago almost all scientific journals were published by universities or scientific societies, but most of them were sold to publishers because of funding and commercial problems. While advanced technology and electronic publication have presumably reduced the publication expenditures, the journal subscription prices keep going up. Most of scholars at the moment are wondering what kind of value publishers add to their articles, because nowadays authors are asked by pulishers to type, outline and even prepare a camera-ready format of their articles. So what do publishers do? Just print and distribute the journals and make the readers and libraries to pay through the nose for subscription! Now, many authors consider big commercial publishers like Elsevier as a symbol of the exploitation of scientists. According to one scientists “we do research for the hell of it”.