Enhanced Journals: A Case Study with General Remarks

Abstract

The Information Bulletin on Variable Stars a small astronomy journal published in Hungary was an early Open Access journal. Now it offers several enhanced features to its reader community. Relying on the rather unique publishing environment existing in the field of astronomy, and on software developed locally, this journal is markedly different from other enhanced journals in certain aspects. We explore the key features of enhanced and common electronic journals: reference linking, database connections, data linking, multimedia content, feedback from the reader community, quality control. We argue that while exploring new avenues of scientific publishing, one should conservatively preserve some traditional values and features. Some aspects of article disassembly dealing with items smaller than the usual basic publication unit, the article are explored too. Figures, for example, are article components which might be reused, used outside the original context.