ITcon - re - engineering the scientific publishing

he prevailing methods for publishing scientific research results are inefficient, slow and expensive. It usually takes between one to two years from the original submission of a manuscript to its final printing in an issue of a peer-reviewed journal. In addition publication as such is no guarantee that the information reaches its target readership. Fortunately recent developments in IT and computer networks, the World Wide Web (WWW) in particular, offer good opportunities for radically reengineering the scientific publishing process. Since commercial publishers are moving rather slowly to utilise the full potential of these new techniques, researchers in many fields are taking the lead in the publication of electronic journals. The Electronic Journal of Information Technology in Construction ITcon, is the first such journal devoted to a sub-discipline of civil engineering.