| This dissertation examines the scholarly communication system. The theoretical perspectives of the political economy of publishing and critical theory of technology and society are utilised to argue that currently available technologies can be deployed in order to enhance scholarly communication and, simultaneously, reduce the cost of distributing scholarly information. This argument is made at a time when current pressures being brought to bear on the scholarly communication system, including a global shift towards the private provision of educational services, the ongoing commercialisation of the scholarly communication system, and the policies and practices of a few large profit orientated publishers, have inhibited fundamental social and technological reform of the system. A brief history of scholarly communication is used to illustrate that at the point of origin of the scholarly journal, the medium was perceived as something that would contribute significantly to the social and economic advancement of society. However, difficulties prevented the system from realising its full potential. To this day, structured inequality in the system prevents the full realisation of the Baconian ideal of scholarly communication. This, coupled with the quantitative expansion of research, the fiscal constraints on universities and libraries, and the extraction of private profit from the public university system, have further eroded the potentials of the system. The dissertation closes with an examination of how electronic publishing might help enhance the current system of scholarly communication. This potential is contrasted against current attempts of vested interests to ensure that the scholarly communication system remains a site for the generation of private profit. To counter, the dissertation offers an alternative model of scholarly communication that makes a strong case that a non-commercial, low cost, high-valued added, and open electronic alternative to the current system is possible. |
