At the EARLI 2004 conference in Cyprus delegates were invited to a 'meet the editors' session, where we could quiz 15 or so editors about their journals. I was first on my hind legs to ask a question which was later echoed by several other delegates. How could editors justify the long lead in times between acceptance of papers to publication - as academics, we want our ideas to be in the public domain as quickly as possible, before they grow hairs on their chins. Satisfactory answer came there none.
One of the worst culprits is Computers and Education. A long long time ago, when dinosaurs still roamed the earth (alright, 26 November 2004), my colleagues Sue Waite, Carolyn Bromfield and I received confirmation that our article 'Our Flexible Friend' had been accepted for publication in the journal. More than two years later, our article still isn't in print, but we can expect it to be published around summer 2007!
Last year my colleagues Maged Boulos, Cito Maramba and I submitted our paper 'Wikis Blogs and Podcasts' to the online medical journal BMC Medical Education. When our manuscript was accepted, we were pleasantly surprised that it was published online the same day! Since then, in only four months, it has recorded over 5,500 viewings on the BMC site alone. It is mirrored on other sites around the globe including Pub Med Central, so this figure can be at least doubled. Our ideas and theories have been disseminated well and in a timely manner, to the extent that other articles and blogs have already appeared online reviewing, commenting and challenging us. Here are a few notable ones:
- British Medical Journal Online (BMJ.com)
- Drugscope Blog
- Clinical Evidence Blog
- Informaticopia (Rod Space)
- Stuart Glendinning Hall
- a-brest.net (France)
- Medinfo.net
- e-Learning at UWC (South Africa)
- Cases Blog
- OLDaily (Canada)
I know where a lot of my work will be published in the future... what do you think?
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