ARL Releases Current Models of Digital Scholarly Communication Final Report

ARL has released the final report from a study that ARL commissioned Ithaka to conduct, Current Models of Digital Scholarly Communication. Highlights from the study’s findings include:

• While some disciplines seem to lend themselves to certain formats of digital resource more than others, examples of innovative resources can be found across the humanities, social sciences, and scientific/technical/medical subject areas.
• Of all the resources suggested by faculty, almost every one that contained an original scholarly work operates under some form of peer review or editorial oversight.
• Some of the resources with greatest impact are those that have been around a long while.
• While some resources serve very large audiences, many digital publications—capable of running on relatively small budgets—are tailored to small, niche audiences.
• Innovations relating to multimedia content and Web 2.0 functionality appear in some cases to blur the lines between resource types.
• Projects of all sizes—especially open-access sites and publications—employ a range of support strategies in the search for financial sustainability.

You can search the study's database. [JH]