Conference proceedings at publishing crossroads

Abstract

The potential intrinsic to electronic publishing provides conference conveners with the opportunity to position the papers presented to greater advantage of both authors and readers. Unfortunately, conference papers are being increasingly published in the most expensive vehicle, the formal peer-reviewed journal. This circumstance is counter-productive to the legitimate role of conference papers in scholarly communication. The experience at Caltech in electronically publishing the proceedingsof an international conference shows that conference papers can be more effectively published online at significantly less cost, thus increasing dissemination and access.