350 years at the cutting edge of scientific publishing-the Royal Society moves to continuous publication

Abstract

'Continuous publication' is a digital-friendly concept that does exactly what it says on the tin. It is the idea that individual journal articles are published online, in their final format, as soon as they are ready. Collectively, they form a continuous feed of published articles. These articles are no longer constrained by the traditional print schedule, which means that citation details are available straight away and the reader has confidence that they are reading the version of record. A number of newly launched journals have experimented with a continuous format over the past few years, although to see established journals making the switch to a different publication model is still rare. So when the Royal Society, publisher of the world's first science journal, decided to transition its titles to a continuous publication model, it was a bold move. This case study examines the reasons behind the move and the lessons that were learned.