Electronic archiving of the CVMA journals — A reality at last

Keep up appearances; there lies the test

The world will give thee credit for the rest

Charles Churchill 1731–1764

Three and a half years ago, the idea of having The Canadian Veterinary Journal (CVJ) and the Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research (CJVR) archived electronically was floated at the Editorial Committee meeting held during the CVMA Committees Weekend. A year later at an Editorial Committee meeting, expanded to include assistant and feature editors, it was decided to recommend to the CVMA Executive Committee that the CVMA pursue participation of its journals in PubMed Central (PMC) (1). Approximately 1 year ago, the CVMA Executive Committee approved funding for this purpose (2).

Possibly by the end of this month and certainly before the end of the year, the full text, excluding advertising, of both CVMA journals will be accessible on PMC, alongside more than 70 other life sciences journals, including the prestigious Canadian Medical Association Journal, British Medical Journal, Journal of Virology, and Journal of Bacteriology. They will be the first veterinary journals to be archived by PMC. It is anticipated that the full content of each issue will be available on PMC 2 months (CVJ) and 3 months (CJVR) after it has been published by the CVMA and after the abstracts have been posted on the CVMA Web site.

What will this mean to journal authors and readers, to the journals, and to the CVMA?

Publication of the full text of their papers on PMC will bring wider recognition to authors, since the material on PMC is available free to anyone with access to the Internet at work, at home, or through a public library.

Readers of the journals will benefit by having ready access to the journals' contents and by being able to locate other relevant material, thereby facilitating electronic searches on similar veterinary and medical subjects. They will also have the reassurance that primary research papers have to have been peer reviewed in order to be eligible for publication on PMC.

The journals should benefit from the extended readership and wider recognition by receiving more manuscripts for consideration for publication, which would allow for more selective publication, assuming that the number of peer reviewed papers published per issue remains approximately the same.

The CVMA should also benefit from any increased prestige for its journals. The Association's standing in the world veterinary community could also be heightened through wider recognition of, for example, its advocacy of animal welfare and its policies and programs to enable the veterinary profession to serve society better.