Acta Ophthalmologica and the Net (2003)

Acta has changed rapidly over the last couple of years. More sections have been added, and review articles and editorials have become regular parts of the issues. The editorial board and guest editors have also become much more involved in the editorial process, thus considerably improving the quality of the reviewing and revision processes. Literature search has become a net-based activity, and increasingly researchers access their referenced material through the Net. A full text version of Acta became available on-line at the beginning of 2000, and during the last year we have seen a steep increase in the usage of the journal over the Net. This tendency will increase even more in the future since many consortia of university libraries now subscribe to Acta. This makes Acta available to a very large percentage of ophthalmologists and particularly researchers all over the world, even those who do not have direct access to the printed journal. Now, it is time for Acta to use the Net even more than before. This will be done in several different ways: Beginning in August this year, Acta will accept on-line submission of manuscripts, and the review and editorial processes will also become net-based. During the latter part of 2003 we will still accept paper-based submissions, but from January 1, 2004 manuscripts, and reviews will only be accepted on-line. This will be a significant transition, and will require all of us to develop new habits and new skills, and most certainly we will encounter problems during the start-up process. The potential benefits are great, however. Most importantly, we hope to further accelerate the editorial process, and to involve an even larger number of editorial board members, guest editors and reviewers in our review process. We will implement a new system for selecting and recruiting reviewers, which should make it possible to considerably upgrade our publication processes. Acta has chosen Manuscript Central's ScholarOne service. Manu- script Central is used by a large number of scientific journals, and probably is the best such service available. Authors may soon go to http://aos.manuscript central.com and register as a user of ScholarOne. Instructions for usage will soon be available on Acta's website http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/aos, and will also be printed in the August issue of the journal. In order to facilitate access to Acta we have also made all material from the 2000 volume of the journal fully and freely accessible on the net, also to nonsubscribers. In the future all material that is 2 years-old or older will be available in this way. All Acta material from 1990 – 1999 will also be made available through the Net during 2003, also free of charge. OnlineEarly will be a new service that will also be introduced in August. All articles that have gone through the production process will be immediately available live on Blackwell Synergy at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/toc/aos, in advance of publication of the printed issue. This will shorten publication times and should be an extra bonus both for our authors and our readers. Finally we will use the Net to provide a means for authors of ophthalmic theses originating form the Nordic countries to make their work widely and permanently available at low cost. Acta is of course a nonprofit journal owned by the ophthalmological societies of the Nordic countries, and the Net is the key that will make it possible for us to provide this service. Theses will be listed in the tables of content in the printed version of the journal, with a reference to the website http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/aos, where the full text version of the thesis will be available at no charge. The Nordic ophthalmological societies hope and believe that this will become the standard way to publish ophthalmic theses in our part of the world. These Nordic theses would then become widely accessible, and not hidden in university libraries, as is now often and unfortunately the case. So, Acta will strive to use the new technologies of the ‘information age’ for the benefit of our readers and authors. Suggestions from you, our readers, have inspired us in this planning, and we welcome your continued advice and criticism.