August 1999
Publications Online
By Michael A. Trick
The most exciting news around INFORMS Online (http://www.informs.org) is the arrival of INFORMS Publications Online (IPOL) (http://www.informs.org/Pubs). Last month, VP/Publications Mark Daskin and Director of Publications Kathye Long discussed the new system in an article in OR/MS Today. Now that we are a couple months into the system, it seems appropriate to see how the system is working and provide some thoughts for the future.
First, a bit of background. One of the great decisions of INFORMS and its founding societies, ORSA and TIMS, was to do all its journals "in-house." Many societies choose to outsource their publications to such large publishers as Elsevier and North-Holland. INFORMS chose not to, and only subcontracts pieces of the process to specialists (so, for example, two companies currently provide the printing of the journals). This process means more work for INFORMS volunteers and staff, but it means much more flexibility for INFORMS. We can freely choose how to price our journals, how to republish articles, and all the other aspects that come with owning the journal content. Perhaps INFORMS' most valuable asset is the full and complete ownership of 50 years of such journals as Management Science and Operations Research.
It was clear years ago that INFORMS journals would eventually have to appear online. It didn't take a visionary in 1995 to see that professional journals would have both electronic and print versions in the near future. The only question was when and how. The INFORMS method for putting things online generally involves a large amount of volunteer labor. The editorial team at IOL are all volunteers who spend their free evening and weekend hours experimenting with software, writing Web pages, contacting people for information, and pursuing other activities needed to create an active and interesting Web system. It was clear from the start, however, that putting together IPOL was no job for volunteers. An outside company would have to be found to create and handle the online journal system. After an extensive search through the possibilities, the firm Carden Jennings Publishing (http://www.cjp.com) was chosen.
Even though an outside firm handles the system, we retain the advantages of owning our journals: We decide on access policies and pricing. We can make decisions in the best interest of our members and of the OR/MS community. Right now, everyone in the world is welcome to look at INFORMS' journals. After the end of the year, the actual papers become available only to subscribers (who have the choice of subscribing to the print journal, the electronic version, or both), but journal abstracts and tables of contents will continue to be freely available. This is an important decision for INFORMS and the OR/MS field. Take a journal like Interfaces. I believe that the practice-oriented topics within Interfaces are of interest to far more people than the current subscriber list. By having the contents of Interfaces available for the next few months, many more people can see what the journal offers, and perhaps become subscribers. Even after the open period ends, abstracts and tables of content will continue to attract new subscribers and members. Similar remarks hold for all of our journals: part of the goal of IPOL is to make the journal offerings better known to a wider audience.
IPOL was announced through a combination of OR/MS Today articles, direct mailings and e-mail announcements. In the first week after the formal announcement, more than 1,000 different people accessed the system. Usage continues to increase. As with any new system, there were and are a few bugs to work out, but generally the system has worked extremely well. Response time (a major worry given the large sizes of many of the articles) remains very good. Overall, the initial rollout of the system has been very smooth.
Starting in January, the journal papers will be limited to subscribers. For members, however, there will be the option to have electronic access to all 10 of INFORMS journals for what I think is the very reasonable price of $99 for the year 2000. Since that price will be available only to members, I think this system will also do a great job of attracting new members to INFORMS.
IOL is now working on ways to take advantage of the availability of IPOL in creative ways. One possibility is to create specialized subject guides providing pointers to appropriate journal articles. Other possibilities include providing easy access to prize-winning papers and perhaps going back into INFORMS (and ORSA and TIMS) archives for an historical perspective on INFORMS.
Having INFORMS publications online is a very important step for the society. Just as owning 50 years of journals is an incredible asset, having at least part of that asset online and easily available opens many possibilities for INFORMS.
New at IOL
The Philadelphia National Meeting (http://www.informs.org/Conf/Philadelphia99) is online with the Call for Papers and other information.
The INFORMS Case Series (http://www.informs.org/Pubs/Cases) is now available through a partnership with the publisher John Wiley & Sons.
Michael Trick is a professor in the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University, and the editor of INFORMS Online. He can be reached at trick@cmu.edu.
OR/MS Today copyright © 1999 by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. All rights reserved.
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