Pediatrics on the Web: 10 Years of Innovation and Discovery

Abstract

The electronic edition of Pediatrics celebrates its 10th birthday this year. This article describes the origins and evolution of the online edition of Pediatrics, which, after launching in 1997, featured the world's first online-only section of a medical journal. Over the proceeding 10 years the journal introduced numerous innovations, including e-mail alerts, postpublication peer review, video supplements, online classified advertisements, Web-based manuscript submission, early release, and the development of the eJournal Archive. This article also describes the use and reception of the electronic journal. Whether measured by article accesses, citation rates, or the number of manuscript submissions, the electronic edition of Pediatrics has proven to be a success. It has allowed the journal to publish a larger number of articles and reach a wider audience than would have been economically possible with a print-only publication. Yet, even as Pediatrics recreates itself online, it is clear that there is much more that can be done to fully realize the potential of the new medium to facilitate professional communication.