Started last December by the Institute of Physics, in Britain, and the German Physical Society, the journal receives 10 to 15 submissions each month, says Robert Brown, journals director at the British institute. So far, seven papers have been published, and users have downloaded more than 7,000 copies, which he says represents a greater readership than is typical of printed journals. Such archives have long been popular in physics and are becoming common in other disciplines. The Journal of High Energy Physics is one publication that works closely with an archive. The author of a paper in that e-print archive can submit it for publication in the journal by filling out a form on the Web and supplying the paper's identification number in the archive.
Marketing also plays a role in attracting both submissions and readers.
The institute has bought advertisements in physics periodicals and has sponsored receptions at conferences of physicists to promote the New Journal of Physics. Journals that are not backed by a publisher may not have the resources to beat the bushes for submissions. But he and the rest of the journal's editors, all of whom are volunteers, haven't had the time this year to solicit manuscripts aggressively. Without a publisher to maintain the journal's visibility, submissions to it have dropped off, he says. When we get busy, the journal suffers.