As journals have become more digital over the last several years, publishers are striving to break away from the limitations that traditional print/issue schedules present, and instead are opting to migrate to a more continuous pace. Research becomes dated quite quickly and risks losing its value if it sits for too long, and waiting for the assembly of a monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, etc. issue for articles to be published can be a huge detriment to timely research dissemination. Open Access (OA) publishers have been among some of the first to quickly transition to a continuous publication frequency to better cater to online publishing, but recently traditional publishers have been starting to more actively pursue this as well. In 2022, all of IGI Global’s 173+ scholarly journals will be converting to this publication frequency.
 | | Benefits of Publishing With IGI Global: | - Traditional and Open Access Publishing Models
- Honorariums & Royalties
- Free Use of the eEditorial Discovery® Submission System
- Flexible Timelines (Less Than 1 Year, if desired)
- Rigorous Double-Blind Peer Review Process
|
| |
|
|
So what exactly does continuous publication mean?
In journal publishing, continuous publication means that article manuscripts are being published immediately online as part of a continuous volume throughout the year. Instead of waiting for a full issue to be completed, the articles, once finalized, are each assigned an article number and filled into the current volume year. IGI Global’s process is that as soon as an article completes the peer review process and is accepted for publication it is moved into the production environment and then can quickly be typeset and then released online, creating a more rapid publication flow of topical and high-quality research.
What about article numbering?
Under the continuous publication frequency there is greater weight place on the volume and article numbering as well as the release date, as page numbers are no longer as critical or relevant. Some publishers will opt to still assign issue numbers. For IGI Global, all articles within a journal that are not part of a special issue are placed into “Issue 1”. Then, special issues are labeled with subsequent issue numbers (i.e. “Issue 2”, “Issue 3”, and so on and so forth) and as such any articles within those special issues will be assigned the appropriate issue number.
When does a volume year close?
For IGI Global, when a volume year closes and all content for the volume year has been released online, the next volume year will commence. For some journals, the volume year may end sooner than others with some closing out their volume year as early as October or November.
What about print?
For continuous publication journals, some publishers may opt not to release a print version, however, IGI Global does. At the conclusion of each volume year, IGI Global will release an end-of-year print publication for each journal which is comprised of all the article content published within the journal during that respective volume year.
What about indexing?
Moving to a continuous publication schedule does not affect journal indexing as indexes are looking at the total number of articles published across each volume year and then will look at year-to-year comparisons to ensure that a journal is consistent and/or demonstrating growth in the amount of content it is releasing.
What does this mean for authors and the readership of the journal?
Authors benefit from a much swifter publication process and no longer have to wait until issues are completed (or be at the mercy of a print schedule) to see their articles published online. Readers benefit from much swifter access to the final version of published articles, as they will no longer have to wait until issues are completed to gain access.
About IGI Global
Founded in 1988, IGI Global, an international academic publisher, is committed to producing the highest quality research (as an active full member of the Committee on Publication Ethics “COPE”) and ensuring the timely dissemination of innovative research findings through an expeditious and technologically advanced publishing process. Through their commitment to supporting the research community ahead of profitability, and taking a chance on virtually untapped topic coverage, IGI Global has been able to collaborate with over 150,000+ researchers from some of the most prominent research institutions around the world to publish the most emerging, peer-reviewed research across 350+ topics in 11 subject areas including business, computer science, education, engineering, social sciences, and more. To learn more about IGI Global, click
here.
Newsroom Contact