The Public-Access Computer Systems Review


The Public-Access Computer Systems Review was an open access journal about end-user computer systems in libraries.

History of the Journal

The Public-Access Computer Systems Review was the first open access journal in the field of library and information science. It was established in 1989 by Charles W. Bailey, Jr., who served as Editor-in-Chief from 1989 through 1996. It was published by the University of Houston Libraries.
The journal was announced on the PACS-L discussion list on August 16, 1989. A call for papers was issued on October 16, 1989. The publication of the first issue was announced on January 3, 1990. The journal was cataloged on OCLC and assigned an ISSN number by the Library of Congress National Serials Data Program on February 1, 1990.
Initially, the journal published scholarly papers, columns, and reviews. Papers in the Communications section were selected by the Editor-in-Chief and the Associate Editor, Communications. A private mailing list was utilized for communication with editorial staff and Editorial Board members. Most communication with authors was done via e-mail, including paper submission.
The PACS Review was published three times a year. New issue announcements were distributed as e-mail messages on the PACS-L discussion list, and users retrieved the ASCII article files from the University of Houston's LISTSERV via e-mail.
Authors retained the copyright to PACS Review articles, and they gave the University of Houston the nonexclusive right to publish the articles in the journal and in future publications. Authors could republish their articles elsewhere, but they agreed to mention prior publication of the articles in the PACS Review within these works. Copying of PACS Review articles was permitted for educational, noncommercial use by academic computer centers, individual scholars, and libraries.
On October 29, 1991, the journal adopted a more flexible publication schedule that reduced article publication time.
A Refereed Articles section of the journal was announced on November 11, 1991, and a call for papers was issued on February 6, 1992. The Refereed Articles section included papers that were peer reviewed by Editorial Board members using a double-blind review procedure, which was usually conducted via e-mail. The publication of the first refereed paper was announced on April 6, 1992.
Between 1992 and 1996, the first five volumes of The Public-Access Computer Systems Review were also published in book form by the Library and Information Technology Association. Walt Crawford prepared the camera-ready copy for these volumes and Charles W. Bailey, Jr. provided editorial support.
Starting on April 6, 1992, PACS Review issue publication announcements were also distributed on the PACS-P list.
On January 29, 1994, the distribution of the journal via University of Houston Libraries' Gopher server was announced. The journal ceased publishing reviews in 1994.
On March 9, 1995, the distribution of the journal via University of Houston Libraries' Web server was announced.
Starting with the first issue of volume six, the PACS Review: published articles in both ASCII and HTML formats, offered HTML articles with both internal and external links, and gave authors the option of updating the HTML version of their articles. The first updated article was "Network-Based Electronic Publishing of Scholarly Works: A Selective Bibliography" by Charles W. Bailey, Jr., which was updated 25 times.
At the end of 1996, Mr. Bailey stepped down as Editor-in-Chief.
Pat Ensor and Thomas C. Wilson became Editors-in-Chief in January 1997. They edited volumes eight and nine. Publication of the last issue was announced on June 18, 1998. Papers were under consideration for publication until August 2000, when the journal ceased operation.
During its nine years of publication, the PACS Review published 42 issues that included 112 articles, columns, reviews, and editorials.
The PACS Review was indexed in Current Index to Journals in Education, Information Science Abstracts, and Library Literature.
The journal is archived on the Internet Archive and the Texas Digital Library.

Editorial Staff

Editors-in-Chief