Academic publishing in North America has existed in its current form for more than two centuries. For most disciplines, the journal article remains academe's stock-in-trade. Tradition as well as institutional policy play pivotal roles in "publish or perish," and decisions about hiring, promotion, and tenure often rest on the candidate's publication record. The format of the published work, the quality of the journal, the publication peer review process, copyediting, typesetting, and the finished look of an article in print all contribute to the authority of published research (Tomlins, 1998). The process of "getting into print" is arduous and can consume a year or more. Proponents of electronic journals say that this slow process creates a body of literature that is outdated at publication. In contrast, electronic peer review proceeds quickly, and anyone can self-publish on the World Wide Web. Many scholars object to the time the peer review process absorbs and predict the demise of print journals in libraries due to expense, shelf space, availability, turn-around time, and the costs of preservation. Although technology can place information at a researcher's fingertips almost instantly, scholars are concerned about other academic issues that involve the quality of the research and publication.