Figure 1: Personal subscription rates (applicable for Australian residents), for the journals
Higher Education Research and Development, Distance Education and AJET, years 1997-2004
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The term "Australasian" is regarded by many as being more "inclusive" than "Australian", with particular reference to authors, readers and colleagues in New Zealand, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia and East Asia. This is important for AJET, as we increase our number of authors from the "Australasian" region, especially Singapore, Hong Kong SAR and New Zealand. As evidence of the widespread use of "Australasian" in scholarly publishing and society names, we conducted Google searches [1] for "australasian journal" and "australasian society" (exact phrase):
Searched the web for "australasian journal". Results 1 - 10 of aboutAmongst the very numerous hits we could cite, we liked especially Australasian Plant Pathology [2], a journal published by the CSIRO for the Australasian Plant Pathology Society [3]. The sponsoring society appealed with its rhyming motto and expansive interpretation of "Australasia":
73,300. Search took 0.20 seconds.
Searched the web for "australasian society". Results 1 - 10 of about
19,000. Search took 0.22 seconds.
(18 Dec 2003)
Plant Health.................Is Earth's WealthWe can reassure authors that AJET's position with the popular search engines will not suffer under the change from "Australian" to "Australasian". The reason is that for many years we have used "AJET" as the first word in the title bar for all of AJET's html files (the first word in the title bar seems to have special significance for one's search engine "presence"). However, we have obtained new ISSNs from the National Library, Australia's ISSN administrator [4], one for the printed version and one for the online version, in accordance with current practices. We thank the National Library for their super-efficient, easy to use procedures for ISSNs, and their general support for publishers [5].The Australasian Plant Pathology Society is dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge of plant pathology and its practice in Australasia. Australasia is interpreted in the broadest sense to include not only Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, but also the Indian, Pacific and Asian regions.
Citations of AJET articles published prior to Vol 20, 2004, will retain "Australian" in the journal title. "Australasian" is to be used only in citations of articles from Vol 20, 2004 onwards.
Therefore we have announced [6] an increase in subscription rates for 2004, from $30 to $35 for Australia and Asia/Pacific zone, and from $40 to $45 for Rest of World zone, where zones are as defined by Australia Post [7]. Postal costs within Australia have increased from about $1.00 to about $1.10 per copy (the cost varies slightly, depending upon Australia Post's application of quantity discounts for C5 prepaid envelopes). Postal costs to Australia Post's Asia/Pacific zone, including New Zealand, have increased from $3.00 to $3.30, and to Australia Post's "Rest of World" zone have increased from $4.50 to $4.95 per copy.
The change from ASET to ASCILITE as the society bank account handling AJET subscriptions has made subscription income from Australian subscribers liable for the Goods and Services Tax [8] (ASET's annual turnover was under $100,000 and thus eligible for GST exemption, but ASCILITE's turnover is too large to enable GST exemption). For each $30 subscription from an Australian library, ASCILITE has to pay $2.73 GST. The proposed increase to $35 (incl GST $3.18) is slightly larger than the GST component, but the increase has to cover also the increased cost of C5 prepaid envelopes, and increased cost of printing. GST is not applicable to overseas subscriptions, because they are exports, but increases in Asia/Pacific and Rest of World postal rates have to be covered.
In AJET Editorial 18(3) [9] we stated that
The average print cost per copy (Au$4.30 for Vol 18, compared with Au$3.63 for Vol 17) [Addendum: The average print cost per copy for Vol 19 was $4.49] is rising in accord with inflation, the increasing average number of pages per issue, and to a small extent, the decreasing number of copies being printed. Whilst subscription rates [11] have remained unchanged for Volumes 13-18, notwithstanding the 250% increase in number of pages per volume in size, a review of rates will soon become inevitable.AJET has a very good record on subscription charges, compared with some related or kindred journals. In Editorial 17(3) [10] we compared cost per article for AJET and some Carfax journals, and in Editorial 19(1) [11] we stated that "AJET increased from 2 issues, 164 pages and 10 articles in 1997 to 3 issues, 410 pages and 23 articles in 2002, without an increase in subscription rates", comparing very favourably with some Carfax journals from the Taylor & Francis Group [12]. Figure 1 shows the trends.
Figure 1: Personal subscription rates (applicable for Australian residents), for the journals
Higher Education Research and Development, Distance Education and AJET, years 1997-2004
In implementing a very modest, near "cost recovery only" increase in rates for institutional subscribers, we remain consistent with the principle that AJET aims to be an academically influential and authoritative journal rather than a source of income for the Societies. Nevertheless, the small increase in rates may help us to experiment with or contemplate some potential future enhancements to the printed version, for example a higher grade, coated paper, or an expansion into four issues per year.
AJET's Board and our Societies have confirmed the current policy. The main reason is our preference for maintaining the tradition of an academic publication in which the author's communication is not shared on the same page or screen with any other communication. Each article is like an exclusive space in which its authors may have the reader's full attention, free from any other person's or company's messages in the same space. Other reasons include the views that we have more than sufficient access to advertising via existing channels, that conference sponsorship is a more appropriate way for ASCILITE and ASET members to foster relationships with the business sector, and that AJET is aiming to be an academically influential and authoritative journal rather than a source of income for the Societies.
We are well aware that search engines, especially Google, are an important avenue for disseminating small scale journals such as AJET, in contrast to the journals from large scale publishers. Some output pages from Google searches contain reasonable advertising. However, we don't see these features as reasons to change our policy on advertising.
In relation to AJET's free advertising for academic conferences conducted by not for profit Societies, we are exploring the potential for links with a larger number of conferences, possibly with extensions of the concept of additional recognition for outstanding papers. This concept is again illustrated in this issue of AJET, which includes three papers that received Outstanding Paper Awards at ASCILITE 2003 [14].
| Year | e-JIST [17] first issue 1995 | IJET [18] first issue 1999 | Compute-Ed [19] first issue 1995 | AJET [20] first issue 1985 | ||||
| issues | artics | issues | artics | issues | artics | issues | artics | |
| 1995 | 4 | 8 | - | - | 1 | 7 | 2 | 14 |
| 1996 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 1 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
| 1997 | 1 | 2 | - | - | 1 | 7 | 2 | 10 |
| 1998 | 4(98-00) | 12 | - | - | 1 | 5 | 2 | 10 |
| 1999 | 2 | 13 | 1(99-00) | 7 | 3 | 15 | ||
| 2000 | 1 | 7 | 1(00-01) | 1 | 3 | 18 | ||
| 2001 | 2 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 20 |
| 2002 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 23 |
| 2003 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 24 |
| Totals | 13 (95-03) | 50 (95-03) | 5 (99-03) | 39 (99-02) | 6 (95-01) | 31 (95-01) | 23 (95-03) | 146 (95-03) |
Initiated as Australian based, online only journals, e-JIST (e-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology), IJET (International Journal of Educational Technology) and Compute-Ed have published a significant number of peer reviewed research articles, but none of the three has matched AJET's growth and long term consistency in issues per year.
Roger Atkinson
AJET Production Editor
Catherine McLoughlin
AJET Editor
| Conferences advertised in AJET 20(1) |
 |
ALT-C 2004: 11th International Conference of the Association for Learning Technology Blue skies and pragmatism - learning technologies for the next decade http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2004/ University of Exeter, England, 14-16 September 2004 |
 | ASCILITE 2004 Beyond the Comfort Zone http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/perth04/ Perth, 5-8 December 2004 |
The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology is a refereed research journal published three times per year jointly by the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education and the Australian Society for Educational Technology. Prior to Volume 20, 2004, AJET's title was Australian Journal of Educational Technology. Members of ASET, ASCILITE and ISPI (Vic) receive AJET as a part of their membership benefits.
For details on submission of manuscripts, subscriptions and access to the AJET online archives, please see http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/
For review inquiries, contact the Editor, Associate Professor Catherine McLoughlin, School of Education (ACT), Australian Catholic University, PO Box 256, Dickson ACT 2602, Australia. Email: C.McLoughlin@signadou.acu.edu.au, Tel: +61 2 6209 1100 Fax +61 2 6209 1185. For production matters and subscriptions contact the Production Editor and Business Manager, Dr Roger Atkinson, 5/202 Coode Street, Como WA 6152, Australia. Email: rjatkinson@bigpond.com, Tel: +61 8 9367 1133.
AJET is managed by an Editorial Board nominated by ASCILITE and ASET. The 2003 Editorial Board comprises:
Catherine McLoughlin (Editor), Australian Catholic UniversityCopyright in individual articles contained in Australasian Journal of Educational Technology and its predecessor title is vested in each of the authors in respect of his or her contributions. Copyright in AJET is vested in ASET (1985-86), AJET Publications (1987-1996), and ASCILITE and ASET (from 1997).
Roger Atkinson (Production Editor)
Trish Andrews, University of Queensland
Carolyn Dowling, Australian Catholic University
Mike Keppell, Hong Kong Institute of Education
Lori Lockyer, University of Wollongong
Mary Jane Mahony, University of Sydney
Elizabeth Stacey, Deakin University
© 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this journal may be reprinted or reproduced without permission from the publishers. ISSN 1449-3098 (print) 1449-5554 (online).
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