Advances in Environmental Research is a new, peer‐reviewed, full‐text online journal. As with many online journals, it is published in both HTML and PDF formats, as well as a print complement. And also like most online journals of any substance, it is not free, although the first two issues are available online for free.
The opening page to the site includes ISSN numbers (print and online), a simple menu system, and an introduction to the journal. The menu includes links to the Table of Contents, a Search Engine, Subscription Information, the Editorial Board, Guidelines for Submission, and a list of Environmental Conferences. The introduction explains that the journal publishes new original research in the fields of environmental science, engineering, and technology. It also states that papers accepted for publication are available online immediately but must wait for the next scheduled print issue of the journal to be published in print.
The subscription rates are very reasonable. There are three options for subscribers: print, limited online, or unlimited online. The printed version is $200, limited online access is available for $50 for 6 accesses per month or $100 for 15 accesses per month, and unlimited access is determined by the number of computers that can access the resource, starting at $100 for 15 computers and increasing by $25 for each additional 15 computers. This pricing scheme seems slightly confusing for networked access in a library or across a campus. It is also not clear how the publisher defines “accesses” or “computers at a single location.” And there is no indication that there is a discount for ordering the print and online combination.
The editorial board seems well qualified to judge the subject matter. It includes 27 individuals who work at universities, governmental agencies, and private companies. It is heavily weighted toward chemistry and chemical engineering (11 of 27) but does include experts in microbiology, agriculture, and hazardous waste. Submission guidelines are very clear and easy to follow.
Each issue of the journal contains 10 articles and is published quarterly even though the first complete volume contained only three issues. It is not apparent when the printed version began, although, after some searching, I was able to determine that volume 1 began in 1997. As of this review, volume 2:2 is in progress, with 5 published articles.
Articles can be found through two methods: browsing the table of contents or through a basic search engine. The search engine is probably sufficient for the site, although there are some features that could be added. The engine has one text entry box but allows for a certain amount of advanced searching. The Boolean operators AND and OR are available for use. (The default when two words are entered is AND). Truncation (*) is allowed and nesting (using parentheses) is available. Bound phrase searching and the operators NOT and NEAR are not available but would be useful if added in the future. Users can also limit to number of results displayed and can search through Full‐text or just the Author or Title fields. Although there are Abstract and Keyword fields for each article, they are not available for searching except through the full‐text option. Increasing the search limits to these two fields would strengthen the search feature.
Results from searching are displayed, numbered in a brief citation form of author and title. It is not known what the rankings for search results are based upon, whether it is relevancy, frequency throughout the text, or volume/issue number. Clicking on the title takes the user to another option page at the article level, allowing for the choice of HTML or PDF format for retrieval. The HTML format is basic but readable, including Title, Author (with affiliation), Abstract, Keywords, and Text. Figures, tables, and formulas are all readable, although not perfectly formatted. The PDF format is the printed format of the article. This format is probably preferred for printing and reading because the formulas, tables, and figures are much better than in the HTML format. The PDF format is the only place where there are indications of the date and volume/issue numbers.
There is no mention of what Abstracting & Indexing services are covering the journal; and the title is not listed in the current Ulrichs (January, 1998). The content of the journal is quite good and while focusing squarely on environmental sciences, the subject matter does cross into chemistry, engineering, agriculture, and microbiology. I think the journal’s value will increase once it is more developed and works out networked pricing with IP validation at the campus level. Recommended for academic libraries that support environmental studies, chemistry, soil and water sciences, and agriculture
