C.I.M. On-Line

David R. Bevan MB, MRCP, FRCPC

Editor

Clin Invest Med 2007; 30 (1): 1.

C.I.M is on-line. This issue marks the beginning of a new phase of publication for the journal: CIM is now available only on-line. Over its 30 year existence, CIM has been published in several formats and by different agencies. In recent years, CIM was owned and published by CMA as one of its associate journals. In 2004, CSCI purchased CIM and ownership reverted to the society. Since then, CIM has been type-set and formatted in-house and printed and distributed by University of Toronto Press (UTP) and, as in interim measure, the journal was available on the CSCI web-site. This process was threatened by the sale of UTP’s off-set Printing Division. Links have now been established between CSCI, CIM and the University of Toronto Library to make use of the U of T Open Journal Access initiative to develop sophisticated on-line distribution. The Library supports journals via the Open Journal System (OJS) management software as well as providing archiving facilities. CIM will remain a subscription journal but, in the spirit of open access, all content will be freely available after a six month publication delay. Access will also be made available to all Canadian Universities via their library websites and authors will have immediate access for submitted articles.

The change from paper and web-site to on-line distribution has potential advantages for authors, readers and our parent society, CSCI, which will become increasingly obvious as the features are gradually introduced. For authors, the review process will be quicker, more efficient and transparent allowing them to track their work as it progresses through the review and publication process. The length of manuscripts will no longer be limited by available journal space: supplementary material can be provided as Web-only appendices at very low cost. Corrections on-line, coloured figures, videotapes etc. will not be limited by cost. Important articles may be “pre-published” in advance of the bi-monthly publication program – “pre-publication”. Scientists recognize the intellectual and professional importance of the increase in dissemination of their ideas and research. Readers will have the journal delivered, via E-mail, without the inconsistencies of national and international postal services. Each issue will be easy to access from any desk-top computer. The journal will be archived by the University of Toronto Libraries. Additional features will include advanced Table-of-Contents to subscribers and potential readers, links may be established to articles cited in the bibliography, e.g. via PubMed, other articles by authors and to relevant web sites. On-line reader feed-back will be encouraged. Elimination of printing and postage costs produces considerable cost savings to the Society and also to readers and libraries, again enhancing the dissemination of new work.

A recent report of 138 high impact journal Web sites analysed whether the potential benefits were realized.¹ The use of the web to expand paper journals as well as the growth of Web-only journals was found to be increasing rapidly. Several journals, >20%,, included Web-only supplements of their papers, particularly of methods, tables and figures. However, only a small number of articles, 7%, were web only. At present few provided readers an interactive experience with the data or with each other. Nevertheless, Web-sites and the means of disseminating science are changing rapidly. CIM is delighted to participate.

References

1.   Schriger DL, Ouk S, Altman DG. The use of the World Wide Web by Medical Journals in 2003 and 2005: An observational study. Pediatrics 2007;119:e53-e60.