The impact of electronic commerce on industry structure - the case of scientific, technical and medical publishing

Abstract

Electronic commerce is becoming one of the drivers of competition and is starting to play an important role in the structural change of industry. This article shows how electronic commerce might affect the Scientific, Technical and Medical publishing sector. The focus is on the electronic journal as a substitute for the paper journal, the new entrants (Internet-based), as well as their implications for the industry structure, with emphasis on disintermediation and electronic intermediation. The paper also argues that most publishers have re-engineered or are re-engineering for electronic commerce, thus operating both in the market-place and the market-space and coexisting with the new Internet-based-only publishers.