Back to basics: what is the e-journal?

As we move further into the first decade of a new century, it seems a good point to reflect on where the e-journal has come from, the position it is at now, and where it might be going in the immediate and long-term future. My concern within this article is to look backwards and forwards and consider this revolution in serials publishing, and the impact it has had on different user groups from the traditional academic audience to the general internet-savvy population.

This article will therefore be structured in the following way: first, I will be looking at the birth of the e-journal, and the development of technologies through the last twenty years which influenced it; then move on to consider popular models of electronic serial publishing; to consider whether ‘born digital’ content is really in the long-term an advantage; to discuss the impact of new publishing models; and finally to look at where the e-journal fits as a source for support, and an outlet, for scholarly research. In conclusion I will present some thoughts on future development for this form of information sharing.