Psychology Journal Content on the Internet

Abstract

ABSTRACT The need to cancel journal subscriptions to offset inflation led the authors to compile data regarding alternative access to contents of the specific journal titles maintained on subscription for the psychology program at the University of West Florida. While approximately two-thirds of the title list were represented in some fashion by a website, nearly half of these websites were found to be purely promotional in nature. Seventy-seven titles shared the characteristics of being “browsable” by means of table-of-contents or abstracts on websites, being indexed in library indexing tools, and being available through document delivery services. The assumption that units of research are virtually universally available free via the Internet seems to have become less prevalent within academia in recent years. New methods of distribution for the contents of traditional journals continue to evolve, though progress seems to be slow in the discipline of psychology.