1. The New Journal of Physics as an Example of Open Access Journals / Eberhard Bodenschatz, Max
Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation
《新物理学杂志》：开放获取期刊实例 / 艾伯赫·包登夏茨, 马普学会动力学与自组织研究所
Introduction•••••••••••••
导论
In order to get a better understanding of the origin of the New Journal of Physics (NJP), it is useful to
look more closely at the publishing system before the introduction of Open Access journals. In
traditional academic publishing in the field of physics, the following parties played a role in the
publication process: authors, editors, referees, the publisher, the library, and the reader. Upon a closer
look, one sees that all the parties, with the exception of the publisher and the library, are active in
physics research. In other words, in the field of physics, the producer, the examiner and the consumer
are members of the same circle. For decades, physicists submitted their knowledge free of charge,
refereed it, often paid publishers to publish and disseminate their articles, and then commissioned their
libraries to buy back these articles from the publishers.
为了更清楚地了解《新物理学杂志》（NJP）的起源，在介绍开放获取期刊之前，有必要先更
细致地观察一下出版系统。在物理学领域的传统学术出版过程中，起作用的有以下各方：作
者、编者、评审者、出版社、图书馆及读者。细看之下，除了出版社和图书馆，各方都是研究
物理学的要角。换言之，在物理学领域，生产者、检查者和消费者都是同一群人。几十年来，
物理学家免费提交自己的知识，评审别人的知识，并常付费给出版商才能出版并传播其论文，
然后要求所属图书馆向出版社购回这些论文。
This traditional system was cast into question by the rapid development of the World Wide Web and
the global information network with its quasi cost-free access. Preprint servers such as arXiv.org have
shown for more than 15 years that it can be relatively cheap (at just a few dollars per manuscript) to
build up a stable academic archive with voluntary submissions. At the same time, in the case of
paperless publishing, publishers would only allow libraries to access journals if they actively
maintained their subscriptions. This new system is in contrast to traditional publishing, where libraries
kept the right of the printed book or article. In this present system, if a library cancels its subscription, it
loses access to volumes that it has already paid for. In addition, in traditional publishing, the costs of
the subscriptions are normally borne by the library, and are thus unknown to the producer (author),
referee and consumer (reader).
随着几乎免费获取的万维网和全球信息网络的快速发展，传统体制遭到质疑。如 arXiv.org 这样
的预印服务器已运作 15 年以上，以每篇文稿数美元的相对低廉的成本，就能在志愿提交的基础
上，建立稳定的学术档案。与此同时，在无纸出版的情况下，出版社只允许图书馆在订阅的情
况下才能获取期刊。依传统出版，图书馆保有印本图书或论文的权利，而新体制是与之相背
的。在目前的体制中，一旦图书馆停订，就不再能获取那些曾经付过费的卷期。此外，在传统
出版中，订阅费一般由图书馆承担，生产者（著者）、评审者和消费者（读者）并不知道。
The New Journal of Physics as an Open Access journal••

2. 《新物理学杂志》是开放获取期刊
Publishing with quality assurance through peer review, editing and archiving, cannot of course be cost-
free. In the age of electronic publishing, however, there are new possibilities. Thus the development of
publishing in the World Wide Web, along with the rising costs, motivated the German Society of
Physics (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, DPG) and the British Institute of Physics (IOP) to
jointly found the New Journal of Physics as an Open Access journal in 1998.
经由同行评审、编辑和存档的出版物，才能保证质量，显然整个过程不可能免费。然而在电子
出版时代，却有新的可能性。万维网出版的发展，以及传统出版成本的提高，促使德国物理学
会（Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, DPG）及英国物理学会（IOP）于 1998 年，共同于创立
采用开放获取模式的《新物理学杂志》。
The NJP makes top-quality articles from all branches of physics available to readers online and free of
charge. The distinguishing features of the NJP are as follows:
《新物理学杂志》的高质量论文，涵盖物理学各领域，供读者免费在线使用。其特色如下：
1. Manuscripts can be read entirely free of charge.
2. Manuscripts must satisfy the highest quality standards, the progress they report must be substantial,
and they must be comprehensible to a broad readership.
3. The highest-possible quality is assured by a traditional peer-review system with an Editorial Board
and at least two anonymous referees. Currently, 70% of the articles submitted are rejected.
4. The Editorial Board consists of leading academics representing the physics community worldwide.
It meets annually, alternately in England and Germany and, in addition, there is an annual electronic
board meeting.
5. At three months on average, publication periods are short.
6. There is no restriction on manuscript length.
7. Colour and multimedia contents are welcomed and free of extra charge.
8. In addition to traditional manuscripts, Focus Issues are published, i.e. original publications of the
highest quality which present a snapshot of a particularly activearea of research. These articles,
typically numbering about 30, are supervised by visiting editors and are subject to the same criteria as
normal manuscripts.
9. Archiving is performed by the publishers, the German National Library, the British Library and via
LOCKSS (Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe). LOCKSS is an initiative of Stanford University which
allows member-libraries to collect the NJP in its entirety, store it, archive it, and grant access to its own
local copy.
10. The NJP is financed by the authors (current article charge: EUR 870); current publication costs
were covered by current income in 2006 for the first time. Since1998, publishers’ subsidies for the NJP
have decreased on an annual basis; the NJP currently has support contracts with the Max Planck
Society, Cornell University, Northwestern University, the University of Göttingen and the Utah
University Library Advisory Council.
1、完全免费读取稿件。

3. 2、稿件必须符合最高的质量标准，他们报告的进度必须是实质性的，而且能够为广大的读者
群理解。
3、采用传统的同行评审制度，有编辑委员会和至少两名匿名评审者，确保最高质量。目前，
退稿率高达 70%。
4、由全球物理学界的杰出学者组成编辑委员会，于英国和德国轮流举行年会，外加每年一次
的委员会电子会议。
5、平均三个月出版一期，出版周期短。
6、稿件长度无限制。
7、欢迎彩色和多媒体的内容，不收额外费用。
8、一般稿件之外，还出版专辑，即最高质量的原始出版物，提供特定研究领域的快照。一般
有 30 篇左右论文，采用相同的审稿标准，邀请客座编辑掌舵。
9、由出版社、德国国家图书馆、大英图书馆存档，也参与 LOCKSS（多备份保全计划）。由
斯坦福大学发起的 LOCKSS，允许成员馆搜集整份《新物理学杂志》，储存、存档，赋予获取
本地副本的权利。
10、《新物理学杂志》由作者支持（目前每篇论文收取 870 欧元），2006 年首次达到收支平
衡。自 1998 年创刊以来，出版社逐年减少补助的金额，目前得到马普学会、康乃尔大学、西北
大学、哥廷根大学和犹他州大学图书馆咨询理事会的合约支持。
Currently, the NJP receives more than 100 submissions a month, and that number is growing. More
than 50 000 downloads of complete texts are registered every month, with readers in more than 180
countries. The illustration shows the development of the ISI impact factor, which reflects the increasing
importance of the journal. For a general physics journal, the impact factor is already very high. In the
last six months, the NJP has been constantly identified by the ISI as the physics journal with the highest
proportional rise in citations.
目前，《新物理学杂志》每月收到 100 多篇稿件，且持续增加中。每月下载全文超过 5 万次，
读者来自 180 多个国家。下图显示科学信息研究所（ISI）影响因子的发展，反映杂志的重要性
日增。对一本普通物理学期刊而言，此影响因子已经很高了。在过去的六个月里，《新物理学
杂志》一直被 ISI 确认为引用比例上升最快的物理学期刊。
Illustration: Development of the ISI impact factor. This is calculated over a period of three years
and corresponds to the average number of citations of articles over a period of two years following
their publication. For example, the 2007 impact factor of a journal is calculated as follows: Z = the
number of citations of articles in that journal in all journals listed by ISI and published in 2005 and
2006. P = the number of articles published in the journal in 2007. The ISI impact factor is then the
quotient of Z/P.
图示：ISI 影响因子的发展。 以三年为期计算的结果，相应于论文出版后二年的平均引用次
数。以 2007 年为例，Z 是 2005 年及 2006 年出版的、被 ISI 收录的期刊，其论文被引用的次
数，P 是该刊 2007 年发表论文的篇数，ISI 影响因子是 Z/P。
Advantages of the NJP•••••
《新物理学杂志》的优势
The development of the NJP shows that Open Access is very well received by international readers.
One clear advantage is that the NJP can be freely read wherever there is access to the World Wide

4. Web. In this way, an author achieves the broadest-possible dissemination of his or her research results.
An additional advantage of the ‘author pays’ model is that it is market-oriented. Authors will be
prepared to submit a manuscript to the NJP and to pay the author charge only as long as the NJP meets
the highest quality demands. This market-oriented model has the additional advantage that the
publication costs are transparent and known to authors and referees. This makes cost-control automatic.
Increasingly, author charges are being taken over by libraries, as the NJP will always be freely
available to them. The stability of NJP is guaranteed by the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft and
the British Institute of Physics.
《新物理学杂志》的发展表明，开放获取已被各国读者接受。一个明显的优势是，无论身处何
处，只要可以访问万维网，就可以自由地阅读《新物理学杂志》，因此，作者的研究成果可达
到最大程度的传播。“作者付费”模式的另一个优势是市场导向，《新物理学杂志》维持最高的
质量要求，才能吸引作者投稿并支付费用。市场导向模式的另一个优势是，出版费用透明化，
作者及审稿者都清楚，得以将成本控制自动化。作者付费越来越多地由图书馆接手，因为《新
物理学杂志》永远免费向他们提供。《新物理学杂志》的稳定性，则由德国物理学会及英国物
理学会共同保证。
Challenges• ••••••••••••
挑战
The greatest challenge involved in the setting up of a new journal is always to get it established. For
both traditional and Open Access publications, start-up finance is essential. For the NJP, this was
provided by the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft and the Institute of Physics. Step by step, the
subsidies for the author charge have been dismantled. In 2006, break-even point was reached for the
first time. By then, in particular the ideas of the financial backers had changed. For example, the
German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) now allows researchers to apply for
publication costs, the Max Planck Society finances publications in the NJP from its central funds, and
the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) financed publications by British authors over a period
of three years. In addition, author charges are increasingly being shouldered by university libraries. The
other challenges facing the NJP were the same as for any other new journal. Successful establishment
is only possible with a very active Editorial Board with excellent support from the publisher.
创办新期刊的最大挑战，是让它持续存在。无论传统出版物还是开放获取出版物，启动资金都
不可少。《新物理学杂志》的启动资金，来自德国物理学会和英国物理学会，后逐步取消对作
者收费的补助，到 2006 年第一次达到收支平衡。此时，财务支撑者的想法已发生改变，如：德
国研究基金会（Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft）现在接受研究人员申请出版费用，马普学会
从它的主要基金里，拨款资助《新物理学杂志》的出版，英国联合信息系统委员会（JISC）资
助未来三年英国作者的出版费。此外，作者的费用逐渐转移到大学图书馆。《新物理学杂志》
面临的其他挑战，与其它新期刊相同，成功存活的基础在于，有一个积极的编辑委员会，并得
到出版社的坚定支持。
p. 35-38
Open Access: Opportunities and challenges. A handbook [开放获取 : 机会及挑战] / European
Commission/German Commission for UNESCO). -- Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of
the European Communities, 2008. -- 144 pp., 14.8 x 21.0 cm. -- ISBN 978-92-79-06665-8. -- EUR

5. 23459, http://tinyurl.com/3q8wo5