The challenge faced is the restrictive difficulties and expense in obtaining electronic reprint rights for articles included in the Review. Within our own Institute this precludes the Review from participating in the electronic version of the All-Society Periodicals Package, and it also has somewhat impeded our efforts to develop a Web presence. Many publishers now recognize this difficulty and are wrestling through the issues of electronic reprint rights. Progress is to be expected over time, but not quickly, and certainly not soon enough for our readers.
Addressing this challenge to the Review is not simple but it is helpful; it has caused the Engineering Management Society and its editors to reconsider its options for serving members. The Society's plans include more original content (but not more than 50%) and a Web presence that will better complement the Review's mission and dialogue with members. Plans to obtain original content were put together during the summer and fall and were announced in a previous issue as a goal for 2002. This issue of the Review represents a first, albeit small, step forward. I call your attention to the articles written by Eileen Berman and J. Paul Oxer. The Review is pleased to have their contributions and looks forward to a continuing relationship.
Those of you who have looked at the EMR Web site will notice that it is currently under construction and that its content continues to grow. For the Review to be a viable resource for its readers, its Web presence must become more effective - even if the reprint articles cannot be posted electronically. We'd like to move quickly on this. On the other hand, taking slower, more deliberate steps can reduce the amount of rework needed in the future. So the Review is proceeding cautiously.
The purpose of the Web site is not merely to post more material, but to accommodate more timely interaction with readers. You will find links to the sites discussed in Linda Kosmin Langford's "Surf's Up" column. You can send her an e-mail with any additional suggestions and comments that you may have; her e-mail address is adnil301@earthlink.net. In fact all of the Review's columns, book reviews, and editorials for the past five years will be posted; this may have been completed by the time you read this issue.
Starting with the previous issue, executive summaries are being prepared and will be posted on the Web site for all articles reprinted since 1995. That is a time-consuming and expensive task to do properly, but the Review is making progress and readers will much more ably find "that article" published a while back. Your feedback regarding these summaries will be appreciated.