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CVJ December 2023 - It’s Official. The CVJ is Going Online Only!

December 1, 2023

The benefits and drawbacks of an online-only presence for he benefits and drawbacks of an online-only presence for The Canadian Veterinary Journal (The CVJ) have been discussed by the CVMA Editorial Committee and others for a number of years. It was the subject of an editorial by your Co-Editors in October 2022 (1). And, after careful consideration, the Editorial Committee put forth the recommendation to make the move to a fully digital/online-only version of The CVJ and remove the hard copy. The recommendation was approved by CVMA Council in July 2023. The January 2024 issue will be the first digital-only copy of The CVJ and, at that time, there will be a redesign of the publication.

Going forward, the current interactive PDF available through the CVMA website will be the only version delivered to members. As at present, 3 mo after publication, all issues will be available to the public via PubMed Central. The CVJ will continue to be available to subscribers (institutions) through the online portal Ingenta Connect.

Most feedback we have received in conversation, informal responses, and written submissions (2–4) supports this change to an online-only presence for the following reasons:

  • More and more members are cancelling receipt of the paper version. We have an Internet-centric society with increasing numbers of people looking only at screens and not at paper.
  • Most of us now (not only younger readers) are accustomed to accessing information online instead of in print. We no longer need a printed version for students, evidenced by sharp declines in numbers of print journals going to colleges or universities.
  • The industry standard is that more and more journals are going digital only (frequently with open access).
  • Print publications for libraries have rapidly declined in a post-COVID era, as most researchers/students access journal content electronically.
  • There will be substantial savings in printing costs and The CVJ will be available to readers earlier, with no dependency on delivery times.
  • The move will minimize printer/publication errors, and PDF files can be corrected quickly.
  • The change will reduce the readership’s and CVMA’s current carbon footprint in line with CVMA’s Sustainable Veterinary Practice Initiative. It is environmentally the right thing to do.

There will no doubt be growing pains as we all adapt to this full conversion to online only. The CVJ and its journals team will continue to serve the interests of all providers and users of The CVJ, including, but not limited to, students, authors, advertisers, CVMA staff, and readers. Many of us (including your Co-Editors) may miss the familiarity and “feel” of a traditional paper journal, but we will all benefit from this decision. We will continue to evaluate the trends in scientific publishing and update practices to reflect the evolving environment. Please join us as we move The CVJ one more step into the digital age.