"It has been a welcome and exciting time for the Canadian Journal of Counselling in association with the University of Calgary Press. Our October 2009 issue was our last print issue of the Journal.This transition began slowly, already in the works when I began as Editor in Chief on July 1, 2008. I was initially reluctant, partly because I knew I had two learning curves to face: learning how to do the print version and learning to use the OJS online system. My experience has been that electronic systems often cause a lot of trouble, especially when they break down. This has not been the case with OJS, although learning the system did take a little time (as expected). Now as Editor (my Assistant is having the same experience), we can assign 3 or 4 reviewers and send out the requests in less than 5 minutes! OJS keeps track of how many manuscripts our reviewers have reviewed, when they reviewed, and so forth so we can quickly pick those whose "turn" it is.
The OJS software is free, and the University of Calgary is part of the Synergies project that is using such software to help journals move online to a stable, reliable environment. I am amazed when I think that our Journal is now available to individuals around the world in an instant -- all at no cost to the consumer, with the exception of the most current issues. This is because we adopted a one-year window to encourage subscribers to continue subscribing. OJS handles this subscription process well, although someone (not me) had to input all of the subscribers into it. Our hope, as should be yours as well, is to disseminate research to the world in an instantaneous fashion. I feel particularly good about this knowing that in many countries, they do not have the funds to pay for subscriptions. Authors want their works read, and preferably widely cited if they are professors. I expect that, over time, the number of readers that will access our articles will increase, and so will the Journal's credibility-already enhanced by the University of Calgary Press imprint. Now for the best part -- our savings will be astronomical! Printing, mailing, and handling costs were our primary expense. Besides that, many subscribers simply filed the issues that did not contain an article that was immediately pertinent to them. Time to conserve and time to share.
Lastly, I want to add that working with the Synergies team at the University of Calgary has been a godsend. Everyone there has been always pleasant, patient (which was helpful when I didn't know anything!), efficient, and helpful. Tech support has also been amazing, and I have never been left with the question "What do I do now?" for more than a few hours. Thank you for making my job a whole lot easier! "