Accessing Electronic Journals and Other E-Publications: An Empirical Study

Abstract

This article reports the results of a study of access problems and issues related to scholarly and peer-reviewed electronic journals (e-journals) currently found on the Internet. Data are reported on the accuracy of directory information, the accessibility of e-journal articles, the status of e-journal archives, methods used to retrieve current and back issues, and the variety of data formats used by e-journals. Data also are presented on the accessibility of the texts of electronic publications referenced bye-journal articles. The findings illustrate the practical problems that can arise when users attempt to retrieve the texts of electronic publications, and reveal relatively poor accessibility and usability of the ejournals studied. Implications for academic and research libraries are considered.