I periodici elettronici e la comunicazione scientifica: bisogni, problemi e proposte [Italian] = Electronic Publications and the scholarly community: needs, problems and proposals [English]

The transition of scientific journals from print to electronic open new sceneries, offers new opportunities, but also creates uncertainties, brings new challenges, requires new attitudes. My paper intends to reflect on the meaning of this transition for the scholarly community: on the needs which it satisfies and the expectations which it creates, but also on the problems which it brings. In particular, the aim of the paper is to underline the necessity – from the scholarly community – of a bigger awareness of the problems and of an activer participation of universities, research institutions and researchers, as they are authors, in the production, circulation and archiving of scholarly information at reasonable costs. If a bigger consciousness by authors is joined by a bigger cooperation between the various partners, scholarly communication will be advantaged. Commercial electronic publishing predominates in a market in which the other partners – in Europe more than in the US – are quite passive. But maybe the moment of the 'revolt' (which must be a cooperative one) has come..