Paperless Workflow: An Overview for Scholarly Journal Publishers

 
Publication Date: May 2005
Author: Kevin Lomangino, Cara Kaufman, Alma Wills

Although nearly every step in the publishing process has been automated to some extent by computer applications, paper has remained a linchpin in the system for communicating key information and changes as a manuscript travels from submission to publication. This hybrid paper/digital workflow has obvious drawbacks that up until recently were unavoidable: the technology simply did not exist or was not widely available to perform some functions digitally. In the past few years, however, nearly ubiquitous access to the World Wide Web and the emergence of new software applications, such as Web-based manuscript submission and peer review systems, and electronic page proofs, have helped close the remaining gaps and allowed for the first time for a truly seamless and nearly "paperless" flow of information from the author all the way to the reader.