3.3 Journals as portals of electronic publication

The field of art and architectural history has two journals of record: the Art Bulletin and the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (JSAH) . They are underused resources. Although modestly funded, the journals representsignificant investments in scholarly capital and have the potential to play a larger role in the dissemination of knowledge throughelectronic extensions. The word extension is used advisedly to underscore the preservation of the print journal and provision ofsupplementary material online. A disclosure is warranted here. The authors of this report are closely associated with the journals:Mariët Westermann just completed a four-year term as Reviews Editor of the Art Bulletin , and Hilary Ballon recently began a three-year term as Editor of JSAH .

First, meet the protagonists. Art Bulletin and JSAH are peer-reviewed quarterlies published by scholarly societies, the College Art Association and the Society ofArchitectural Historians, respectively. Art Bulletin was founded in 1913, JSAH in 1947. At present back issues are available through JSTOR , but the current issues are not published digitally. The editors and book review editors are scholars in the discipline;their editorial appointments are a service to the profession and carry no compensation. The peer reviewers and authors are alsounpaid. Thus the content of the journal is evaluated, selected, and developmentally edited with volunteer labor.

Both journals encompass the full scope of the discipline. They set no geographic, chronological, ormethodological limits. Art Bulletin publishes articles in all spheres of art history with occasional articles on architecturalhistory. JSAH addresses the built environment broadly defined, including landscape, urbanism and planning as well as architectureand theory. They publish medium-length articles and reviews. Art Bulletin publishes on average 7 articles per issue, or 28 articlesper year; the articles average 10-12,000 words, with a maximum of 20,000 words on occasion. The review section is limited to booksand has a highly selective approach; each issue has 6-8 reviews, some covering two or more books. (A companion online publication, caa.reviews , is more comprehensive.) JSAH publishes fewer articles, 4 per issue, for 16 per year, each also 10-12,000 words on average.It has a more extensive review section that covers multimedia, books, and exhibitions; websites have just been added. Bothjournals occasionally include special sections or "interventions." Recent features have examined the state of Renaissance art history,debated the interpretation of a single painting, and considered the linkages between architectural history and other fields. Bothjournals are extensively illustrated in black and white, with some color in Art Bulletin . A typical issue, March 2006 for example, has 146 illustrations of which 7 are in color. JSAH will have its first four-color illustrations in the December 2006 issue.

The argument to expand the scope of the journals with electronic extensions addresses peer-reviewedcredentialing, access, and cost. This section expands on the following points.

• The journals are edited by scholars and have effective and respected systems of peer review that guarantee high standards ofscholarship. Their imprimatur therefore confers prestige and has value in tenure and promotion decisions.
• The journals are a shared resource of the discipline, international in scope, and can provide better access toelectronically generated work now contained in university silos.
• The journals offer a cost-effective method of scholarly publication by reducing layout and design costs, by imposing astandardized design template, and by offering a circulation that exceeds the average print run of books in the field.