Vol. 19, No. 24

March 16, 2000

Latin American Studies
publishes first online journal

The Delaware Review of Latin American Studies (DeRLAS), an interdisciplinary scholarly journal, was born Dec. 15, when the first issue appeared online. The e-publication–a refeered journal of Latin American research with a distinguished board of interdisciplinary editors–is published by the UD Latin American Studies Program twice a year, in the Fall and Spring, and is the first journal published at the University to appear exclusively on the World Wide Web at <http://www.udel. edu/LASP/index.html>. Suzanne Austin Alchon, Latin American Studies Program, said online journals are the way of the future. “Libraries are cutting down on journal subscriptions to save money and most scholars realize that this is the way things are moving.” Austin Alchon said she doesn’t believe being exclusive to the web compromises the integrity of the journal because the editors who review the research are “an impressive group of scholars,” and the articles will be of extremely high quality. She predicts that one day all journals will be web-based and that print copies will be gradually phased out. The brainchild of América Martínez, foreign languages and literatures, and Norman Schwartz, anthropology, the first issue of the journal includes three articles all focusing on the Maya area of southern Mexico and northern Guatemala. It was Martínez who first envisioned the web journal and now is its webmaster, designing and maintaining the site. “For a long time, I’ve had a feeling this would be the way to reach people,” she said. She said she sees DeRLAS as more accessible not only to scholars but also to the public and she intends to list it with various search engines and news groups as well as letting colleagues and scholars all over the globe know it is available. Martínez and Schwartz are certain people in Latin America have as much access to the web as they do to the mail, but they can log on and download at a lower cost than the thousands of dollars it takes to subscribe to some journals. “It’s amazing where they have computers. In Central America, there are many communities that don’t have fully functioning postal services but they do have computers. That allows them instant access to information instead of having to wait for the mail. If I want to get something to interior Panama, it gets there faster online than in the mail,” Schwartz said. Austin Alchon, Martínez and Schwartz all agree that web access will give greater numbers of people the chance to use the well-researched information in the journal and, at the same time, get to know the Latin American Studies Program and the University. “The web-based journal will bring increased visibility to the University and specifically to the Latin American Studies Program, which has been here since the early 1970s,” Austin Alchon said. The board of editors, which will review submissions reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the program. It includes Mitchell Seligson, political science at the University of Pittsburgh; Cynthia McClintock, political science at George Washington University; Hortensia Morell, foreign languages at Temple University; James Sexton, anthropology at Northern Arizona University; Tomás Gallareta, archeology at the National Institute of Archeology and History in Merida, Mexico; Julio Carrión, political science and international relations at UD; and Austin Alchon. Martínez said she is planning to create a page on which comments about research and the journal can be viewed by anyone accessing the site. At the moment, she and Schwartz are getting comments via e-mail and through the postal service which she intends to add to the web site. Eventually, Martínez said, she wants to have a web page “where people can comment online.” –Barbara Garrison