Amsterdam, 6 October, 2010 – Elsevier, the world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, announced today the launch of Article-Based Publishing -- a new publishing model that publishes articles as final and citable without needing to wait until a journal issue is complete. With an increasing focus on online publishing, there is a growing need for innovative publication models geared towards individual articles instead of the print-based issue model. Article-Based Publishing is the assigning of final citation data on an article-by-article basis, decoupled from the compilation of the journal issue itself.
"Article-Based Publishing is major step forward in publishing. Now the article is published in its final form within just a few weeks after acceptance, which provides the journal an important competitive advantage," said Professor René Janssen, Editor of Organic Electronics. "Authors will be equally pleased to see the results of their research published sooner."
For centuries, academic articles have been published in journals, issue by issue. While this practice has ensured organized citation information, it has also created boundaries for the timing of each published article. Now, Article-Based Publishing makes it possible to publish articles in their final form, with volume, issue and page numbers, before the entire issue is finalised. This new way of publishing speeds up the publication of articles by an average of 7 weeks.
For journals using the Article-Based Publishing model, articles are published in an "Issue in Progress" on SciVerse ScienceDirect. The traditional volume and issue numbering system will remain as this is the industry standard, and it also provides context to when the complete journal issue was published. Next to the Issue in Progress, a diminishing Article in Press list will still exist for accepted manuscripts and uncorrected proofs only. These articles, although not officially published, are still valuable for fast access to new research results.
"Article-Based Publishing is a key part of Elsevier's efforts to find new ways to speed up and enhance the publication process," said Martin Tanke, Managing Director of S&T Journals for Elsevier. "Along with PeerChoice and Article of the Future, we're continuously addressing our community's requests for publishing innovation."
Elsevier in 2011 also intends to make it possible to have multiple issues in progress at the same time for one journal. This will allow simultaneous publication of special, thematic and regular issues, further reducing article publication times.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect, SciVerse Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult and Nursing Consult, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).