_The Eclectic Journal_

       Based upon a review of E-journals for my new Web registry, EJI(sm)

       [http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/EJI.htm ],

I have concluded that the present-day "Electronic Journal" is evolving to
become what I call "The Eclectic Journal".

    By the "Eclectic Journal", I mean a Web-based resource that at its
core provides access to e-journals that offer not only the conventional
content of a digital form of a journal but also provides or permits
interaction with novel and innovative _features and functionalities_
(e.g., reference linking, cross-publisher searching, page customization,
open peer review, etc.) _AND_ novel and innovative _content_ (e.g.,
e-Books, pre-publication history, electronic discussions, translation
services, e-prints, bibliographic databases, etc.)

[SEE EJI(sm) for _several_ more types of various novel and innovative
features, functionalities, and content *as well as* dozens of specific
examples overall]

   Such features, functionalities and content may be integrated _within_
the e-journal proper or made accessible from the main resource.

   Sites that I would consider excellent examples of the "Eclectic
Journals" are

   BMJ [British Medical Journal] [ http://www.bmj.com/]
     This Electric Journal provides access to a bibliographic databases
(i.e., Medline), e-prints, reader commentary, reorganized journal content
(Collected Resources), pre-publication history, etc.] [Free registration
required [?]

   The Technical Library of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers
(ASAE) [ http://asae.frymulti.com/ ]

      This Eclectic Journal allows concurrent searching of the various
ASAE publications, notably journal, conference proceedings, standards,
technical books, and technical meetings)

     As source material for a review I am preparing on the "The Once and
Future Journal" for a special issue of _The Serials Librarian_ [
http://web.mit.edu/waynej/www/e-access.htm], I am greatly interested in
identifying Any and All _RECENT_ literature that discusses this
e-publishing phenomena. [I am aware of much of the major and minor works
about the 'Electronic Journal' published within the past 50 years]

Recently, I identified two highly-relevant articles that support my
observations about e-journal evolution:

   1- Cox, John. 2000. "The Journal as a provider of community services,"
__The Serials Librarian_ 38(1/2): 199-209

and

  2. Anderson, Kent. 2001. "The Mutant journal: how adaptations to online
forces are forcing STM journals to mutate,"  _Learned Publishing 14(1)
15-22. [
http://cherubino.catchword.com/vl=71902383/cl=2/nw=1/rpsv/catchword/alpsp/09531513/v14n1/s3/p15
]

[This article offers a *very* interesting perspective on e-journal
evolution!] [Thanks Garrett Eastman from the Rowland Institute, Cambridge,
MA for this reference]

  I am also interested in learning of any _additional_ Eclectic Journal
features, functionalities and/or content that I have _not yet_ established
in EJI(sm) [ http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/EJI.htm] . I am
also interested in other examples of Any and All novel and innovative
e-journal features, functionalities, and content for future review and
inclusion

  As Always, Any and All contributions, comments, critiques, queries,
cosmic insights, etc. etc. etc. are Most Welcome.

   Regards,

Gerry McKiernan
Eclectic Librarian
Iowa State University
Ames IA 50011

gerrymck@iastate.edu

P.S. From my perspective the ACM Digital Library [ http://www.acm.org/dl/]
and the IEEE Explorer [ http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/lpdocs/epic03/ ] might
also be considered Eclectic Journals as could EiVillage2 [
http://www.ei.org/engineeringvillage2/partners.html or Ei Engineering
Village [ http://www.ei.org/eivillage/village.serve_page?p=1280 ] [What Do
You Think?]