Errors can be easily and quickly corrected, and examples can be changed if necessary. Searchable texts and links to references and other online resources significantly enhance the usefulness of digital articles. And as these statistics demonstrate, a wealth of detailed information about an electronic journal’s readership (in addition to unique visits and geographic location, numbers of return visits, length of time viewing pages, referring websites, most popular and longest-studied articles) is not difficult to obtain. This is particularly true for open-access journals such as MTO and ZGMTH-for example, according to Google Analytics, in recent years MTO has received, on average, 500,000 unique page views per year from readers in 200 different countries. The distribution of electronic journals is immediate and has no geographic limitations, reaching a much wider audience than print journals. Articles and reviews can be posted to the website when ready, before the rest of the issue is complete while most digital journals preserve the volume/issue format of print journals, some now publish on a continuous basis. The turnaround time between submission and publication is typically much quicker, resulting in faster dissemination of new research, which benefits both authors and readers. The publication costs are far lower (although a reliable host server, stable address, and offsite backup are necessary), and there are no material limits on the length of articles or appendices, or the number of examples they contain. The advantages of electronic journals, as compared to print journals, are obvious. Animation and video have been incorporated using a wide assortment of formats (most commonly Shockwave, QuickTime, RealMedia, animated GIFs, Flash, Ogg media, and mp4s). Although the journal is intended to be read online, thus allowing full access to the multimedia examples, since 2011 it has also included printable pdf versions of article texts and graphic examples, which are useful for reading offline or including in dossiers for tenure or promotion. MTO has explored different visual presentations over the years, including plain text, hyperlinks, frames (which place text, links to examples, and footnotes in separate areas of the screen that can be scrolled independently), and the current configuration of text with links to pop-up examples, notes, and citations. Streaming, rather than static, audio was used for sound examples beginning in 1998. The journal assumed a permanent status and moved to web-based publication with volume 1 in 1995, featuring articles in HTML and audio examples as standard MIDI files. The first 11 experimental or “beta” issues are numbered as volume 0. It developed from an SMT email discussion list, and the early articles were plain-text files distributed via an email listserv. ![]() ![]() It was originally an “as-ready” electronic publication appearing frequently but irregularly, and has seen several changes in format during the past two decades. MTO, one of the earliest journals in the digital humanities, was founded in 1993. One of the journal’s goals has always been to maximize the potential of the online format by encouraging authors to include multimedia examples, a variety of which are cited here. MTO publishes quarterly issues (in March, June, September, and December) comprising refereed articles, commentaries, conference reports, and book reviews, and also hosts job and dissertation listings for its parent society, the SMT. As such, the journal represents the North American counterpart of ZGMTH. MTO is an open-access electronic journal sponsored by the American scholarly association the Society for Music Theory (SMT), published in English for an audience of researchers, teachers, students, and others interested in the discipline of music theory. In this essay I survey the general advantages and disadvantages of electronic journals, and more specifically, the approaches that Music Theory Online (MTO) has taken to publishing research and criticism in music theory and analysis, along with some potential directions for the future.
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