Electronic publishing involves the submission, editing, printing and distribution of manuscripts using computers and telecommunications. It refers broadly to any information published in electronic form, including sources distributed on magnetic tape or videodisc. Electronic publishing has grown steadily since the first electronic book was published in 1985 in Germany. Optical discs like CD-ROMs have become synonymous with electronic publishing due to their success and ability to hold large volumes of data durably. Electronic journals differ from conventional journals in their use of computer and communication networks, which eliminates time lags between submission and publication.

1. Muhammad Sohaib
BS(HONS) 5th semester
Roll No:10
Department of library and information
science
The Islamia University Of Bahawalpur

2. What is E-publishing?
 Electronic publishing can be defined as the
publication process where the manuscripts are
submitted in electronic format, edited, printed, and
even distributed to readers (users) by employing
computers and telecommunications.
 In general, the fusion of electronic, computer and
communication technologies with publishing can be
termed as EP to mean any information source
published in electronic (machine-readable) form. This
would include sources distributed on magnetic tape
and such media as videodisc

3.  Even since the first electronic book was published in
1985 in Germany. There has been a steady growth in
the number of electronic publication. More and more
publishers of scholarly, academic and reference works
from almost all fields of human knowledge are
entering into the EP field.

4.  The first EP products were mostly reference works,
secondary publications, and machine-readable
databases of indexing and abstracting services.

5. Optical discs and electronic
publishing
 Optical information storage systems have become
synonymous with EP.
 This is because of the success of the CD-ROM as the
optical medium of choice for the publishing industry
 Durability, capability to hold large volumes of data

6. Electronic journal
 There is considerable difference of opinion on the
definition of electronic journal (EJ). McMillan’ defined
it as any serial produced, published and distributed
nationally or internationally via electronic networks
such as Bitnet and the Internet.

7. Advantages
 In electronic publishing, the data can be maintained
up-to-date so that the buyer will be able to purchase
the latest version of publications (for example,
encyclopedias, and directories
 The most important advantage of EJs over the
conventional journal is the using in the turn-around
time, i.e., the time lag in submission, refereeing,
vision, editing, composing, printing, binding, and
forwarding eliminated by using computer and
communication networks.

8. Disadvantages
 Some of the problems of EP include high initial costs
to the publishers
 The acceptance of EJs depends upon the user-friendly
retrieval software
 Electronic publications necessitate the availability of a
computer and communication network to the
subscriber