The Roquade project: a gradual revolution in academic publishing

摘要

Due to a number of problems, the traditional scientific journal has become na obstacle to efficient scientific communication. Some initiatives have been started to realise other ways of scientific publishing, using modern information technology, In serveral disciplines, however, a relatively large number of scientists are still reluctant to make use of completely new ways of publishing. The extraordinary aspect of the Roquade project is marked by the fact that it offers a variety of possibilities, which together constitute an expeditious way for gradually changing the publication behaviour of scientists. Thsi project, initiated by the university libraries of hte Dutch universities of Delft and Utrecht, aims at creating an infrastructure tht conglomerates the swiftness of publication, which hitherto could only be realised by grey publishing, with quality judgement without hte serious delay of the traditional review procedures. Roquade offers a wide number of facilities to a broad audience, based on a common organisational and technical infrastruture: a publication site, with a peer review process before as well as after publication; traditional electronic publishing, replacign the traditional publishing process: digital journals, dissertations and conference collections; co-publishing: digital publication services in cooperation with publishers; hte publishing of grey literature. The variety of possibilities offers authors and organisations an easy way to gradually increase their degree of innovation. They can start with a digital version of a traditional journal, then make more and more use of the technical possibilities (add data, sound and video, for example), gradually dropping the concept of an issue/volume, and change from peer review beforehand to peer review after publication.