Electronic Book Review, a highly-respected and pioneering all-electronic journal has a new home.

The Center for Literary Computing, housed in the West Virginia University Department of English, is now the institutional host for the journal, and Sandy Baldwin, director of the Center for Literary Computing and associate professor of English was recently named executive editor of the journal.

“EBR is at the forefront of debates about open access in scholarly journals and about reimagining peer review to maintain the rigor of the process but also to recognize a changing media environment,” Baldwin said. “Work that appeared in the journal as special issues or sequences of essays has subsequently been published in print by respected presses such as the MIT Press. It publishes work by leading scholars and brings considerable prestige to the CLC and WVU.”

Founded by Professor Joseph Tabbi of the University of Illinois, Chicago, the journal has been in continuous publication since 1994. Electronic Book Review is among the longest running open-access, literary-critical journals on the Internet, publishing critically savvy, in-depth work addressing the digital future of literature, theory, criticism and the arts. Areas of scholarship include a wide range of topics such as film, visual art, music, computer games, philosophy, feminism, and so on.

“The main goal is high-quality original work that is critically engaged, discerning, and exciting,” said Baldwin. “The journal is also open to essays that are hybrid in style, that combine creative writing and the academic essay. In light of the journal’s web format, we encourage the use of links, images, and other hypermedia.”

To make use of the Web’s medium-specific advantages, EBR adopts a rolling model of publication. Rather than publishing individual volumes or issues with preset publication dates, as print media does, writing is accepted for publication after undergoing a networked, peer-review process. The journal provides open access to all of its content on the principle that making research and scholarship freely available to the public on the Internet promotes a robust media ecology.

All publications by the journal are developed at the Center for Literary Computing. Baldwin and Tabbi, editor-in-chief of the journal, direct production, including the recently redesigned interface, hosted and supported by WVU’s Office of Information Technology. The journal’s editorial team includes the center’s interns, providing an opportunity for WVU students to gain experience writing for a leading journal using cutting-edge technologies.

“It is interesting. I get to work on an actual online journal and learn about topics that I wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise,” said Tiffany Zerby, a junior English major with a concentration in professional writing and editing. “Right now, we’re working on finalizing the editorial process of the new interface. It’s exciting.”

Students working on the journal are part of a team with personnel at WVU, University of Illinois, UCLA, and elsewhere. They participate in discussion and planning of the interface and editorial process and they become integral parts of the team. They leave the journal with direct experience interacting with authors, designers, programmers and the readership.

Visit the Electronic Book Review at http://www.electronicbookreview.com.
For more information, contact Sandy Baldwin at Charles.Baldwin@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

rh/4/9/12

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