California
July 8, 2009
This week, California
Agriculture capped off a two-year effort with a keystroke,
posting the full text of 63 years -- close to 6,000 articles --
to the World Wide Web. This rich store of peer-reviewed science
dating back to 1946 is now freely accessible and searchable at
the journal's redesigned Web site:
http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.org/.
The previous California Agriculture Web site included
articles back to 2000. Until now, however, most of the journal's
long history of research has been in the shadows, accessible
only as bound volumes in the stacks of a few UC libraries and
others scattered around the world.
"This highly valuable research is now widely available online
for the benefit of authors, readers and scientists worldwide,"
said Janet White, executive editor of California Agriculture
journal. "Our old, well-worn hard copies have been transformed
into high-quality, reusable XML-based content and full-text
PDFs, with the highest levels of data integrity and
readability."
Published by the University of California, California
Agriculture began as a four-page broadsheet in December
1946. Today both print and Web versions are known for presenting
new, peer-reviewed research in a meaningful context with
technical terms defined -- making it accessible to a diverse
audience of people who can use it, taking the final step in the
research and delivery process.
California Agriculture is one of the oldest, continuously
published, land-grant university research publications in the
country, with one of the largest circulations among journals of
its kind. Print subscribers include 17,000 growers, faculty
members, environmental and health professionals, government
researchers, public officials and others.
The California Agriculture archive includes landmark
research that knits together our understanding of food and fiber
production, forestry, fisheries, human health and nutrition, and
how those endeavors have interacted with the natural environment
and its ecosystems at every scale.
Aptara of Falls Church, Va., was hired to process over 550
back-dated journal issues, using the University's custom
editorial specifications, converting them into XML files with
cross-referencing for immediate posting online. The Web site
redevelopment team included Janet White, Andrea Laue, Michael
Talman, Davis Krauter, Karl Krist, Dave Krause and Janet Byron.
California Agriculture is still fine-tuning the Web site,
and welcomes comments and feedback. Please take the online
survey on the home page, or write to us at
calagwebmaster@ucanr.org .
California Agriculture
is the University of California’s peer-reviewed journal of
research in agricultural, human and natural resources. For a
free subscription, go to:
http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.org write to
calag@ucop.edu or call (510) 642-2431 x33. |
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