Continuous publication methodology
What does it consist of?
Continuous publication is when an article is published when it is ready to be included in the journal; that is, it is published individually immediately after being approved. According to Quirós (2018) this consists of a type of publication in which "articles are placed one by one on the journal page, once they have completed the peer review process, the process of proofreading, philological correction, translation and layout" (p.2).
Thus, this type of publication implies the disappearance of the periodicity of journal issues, leaving only the volumes, where, depending on how the journal establishes it, it will be the only time when the articles will be grouped continuously, as they were published. For example, if the volumes of the journal in question are annual, those articles published continuously during that year will be the ones that will make up that volume.
Benefits of continuous publication
Among the benefits that this type of publication in journals could bring, Santana (2019, p.2) highlights the following:
- Decreased times for submission and publication of articles.
- Greater immediacy for the dissemination of scientific information.
- Low risk of research data being outdated at the time of publication.
- Increased visibility of research.
- Improved editorial workflows.
- Greater amount of updated information for the user to read and cite.
- Promotes the continuous reception of scientific articles.
Good practices to apply it
The application of continuous publishing poses the disappearance of the periodicity of journal issues, which means that the numbering of articles should be transformed and, therefore, the way of referencing them should change. Then, Denis (2016) states that a good practice to apply in these cases is that the pages of the articles are numbered individually and the traditional way of referencing by "volume (number): number of pages" is retained, applied a small change where instead of specifying the range of pages where the article is located, this is replaced by the DOI.
Bibliographic references
Denis, D. (2016). RCCB switches to continuous publication editorial mode. Cuban Journal of Biological Sciences / Revista Cubana de Ciencias Biológicas, 5(2), 1-3. http://www.rccb.uh.cu/index.php/RCCB/article/view/150/259
Quirós-Segura, F. (2018). Continuous publication and preliminary publication: electronic publishing modalities in pensamiento en movimiento. Thinking in Motion: Journal of exercise and health sciences, 16 (1). 1-4. https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/pem/article/view/33609/33125
Santana-Delgado, A. (2019). Implementation of continuous (periodical) publication in the Cuban Journal of Orthopedics and Traumatology. Revista Cubana de Ortopedia y Traumatología, 33(1), 1-4. http://una.remotexs.co/user/login?dest=http://search.ebscohost.com.una.remotexs.co/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid,url&db=asn&AN=141588203&lang=es&site=ehost-live
