As you may remember, I looked into the possibilities for on-line publication of the Annals after the ASAP Governing Board made the decision to discontinue support for print publication. After reviewing several possible publishers, I decided that Bentham Science Publishers (www.Bentham.org) offered the best option for the Annals. They would convert the Annals to a quarterly journal, available on-line with an option for readers to download and print out the entire issue or individual articles. They would also either offer a hard-cover print edition for a yearly volume (consisting of the four quarterly issues) to readers who wish to order it, or allow us to arrange for a print on demand volume with another publisher.
Last summer, Richard Rosner, Gregory Bunt and I met with Dr. Matthew Honan, the Managing Director of Bentham, to discuss the publication of the Annals by Bentham. Following this meeting, Dr. Honan sent me a draft of an agreement, which I forwarded to the Governing Board. At the suggestion of Frances Bell, the agreement was sent to a lawyer who has advised GAP about publication contracts for review. The lawyer had a number of comments and suggestions, which were sent to the Governing Board to review at the March Annual Meeting. I have continued to work to improve my understanding of on-line publication, a rapidly evolving field. Yesterday I sent a list of questions to Dr. Honan who replied today that he is pleased at our continued interest and will respond to the questions shortly.
In the meanwhile, I continue to receive submissions for the Annals, and am continuing to utilize the peer review process that has been in place. I am hopeful that the agreement with Bentham will be negotiated successfully and that we will be able to proceed rapidly with publication once it is signed. My goal is to have as many articles ready for publication as possible when we are ready to go.
The new version of the Annals will have greater flexibility with regard to content, so that letters to the editor and short articles may be included in addition to our traditional 20-25 page full length articles. In addition, the scope of the Annals would be expanded to a more global focus, and the Editorial Board will become international.
As always, thank you for your support.
–
Lois T. Flaherty, MD
Editor, Adolescent Psychiatry
9 Saint Mary Road
Cambridge, MA 02139
Related posts:
