The internet-centric nature of society has been the norm for some time now. This way of living has become the foundation of our daily lives and has deeply impacted the way businesses and professional activities are run, with academic publishing being no exception.

For the past two decades, perhaps even longer, scientific publishing has been experiencing a profound shift from a print-based to online journal publishing models. Increasingly,
many established research journals have been dropping their print editions and switching to either online journal publishing or to a print-on-demand model.

If your journal is still primarily based on print-only publishing, you might be missing out on some of the key benefits that come with online journal publishing. In this article, we’re going to provide an overview of the main models of online publishing and discuss the benefits the publishers can take advantage of if they switch.

Publishing online. Subscription and Open Access models

When publishers make a decision to publish their journals online they can then explore further options by choosing to work with subscription-only or Open Access (OA) journals. The essential difference between these two online journal publishing types lies within their business models.

As the name implies, subscription-only journals are intended to be purchased by the readers before they can access the journal’s content while OA journals allow immediate and free online access to the journal’s articles. When it comes to the quality of content, both journal types offer the same level of reliability as they must each go through the same peer-review processes and apply the same requirements of academic publishing.

However, as we’ll discover shortly, the online journal publishing model can offer publishers and researchers some key benefits over the print-only model when it comes to growing their readership.

Keep on reading to find out about the benefits can that OA online journal publishing can offer to the academic society.

The Benefits of Online Journal Publishing:

• Broader readership
  The possibility of reaching the broader readership is one of the most obvious advantages that online publishing grants to both publishers and researchers. With their articles published in an open, easily accessible academic space online, the researchers can enjoy better visibility and discoverability by their target audiences.

• Citations
  Compared to print-only journals, online publications demonstrate a much more positive impact on citations as the articles posted online become instantly available online. Besides, the majority of publishing platforms today offer many useful web solutions that journals can use to their benefit. One such solution is SEO – Search Engine Optimization. This online solution helps researchers and publishers to have their publications more easily discovered by people using Google, therefore helping them to reach their target audiences. On their websites, publishers also have the option to highlight the most promising researches in a “Featured Articles” section which automatically attracts the attention of their readers and therefore accumulates more citations.

• Mobile-friendly access
  In the modern world, easy digital access to a journal means much more than simply publishing articles online. Growing numbers of publishers have been actively investing in modern journal publishing solutions that also include a mobile-friendly website interface.

• Attention for the future issues
  Modern online journal publishing methods incorporate many smart features that are meant to help publishers better connect with their audiences. Many online scholarly journals have a dedicated section of their website entitled “To Appear” or “Coming Issue” which provides information about the articles and content in the upcoming issue of their journal. This is a great feature that can help publishers to retain their audience’s interest and encourage them to visit their website in the future.

• Publishing costs
  Another clear argument for switching to online academic publishing is the significantly reduced publishing costs. In traditional academic publishing, journals always have to consider logistical expenses – including printing, transportation, and journal distribution. Digital publishing solutions can save publishers from these expenses, while at the same time offering an even larger readership and a stronger status in the academic community.

The first step recommended for those eager to switch to  is to find a reliable publishing partner and a modern journal hosting solution. With the professional assistance of experts in the field of publishing, you can expect a productive partnership that will promote your growth and success as a scholarly publisher.