The Final Report of the Task Force is now available for download.
Those reading the Final Report of the Task Force are encouraged to read at least the Executive Summary of the American Council of Learned Societies' recent report on cyberinfrastructure for the humanities and social sciences. The entire report can be downloaded from the ACLS site.
The Appendix to the Final Report containing background information and URLs is also available for download. Use Adobe Reader to make the URLs active links for your browser.
The joint Task Force on Electronic Publication of the APA and AIA began work in January 2006. The Task Force was originally conceived as an APA project, but was almost immediately expanded to include the AIA. The APA Board of Directors formulated the following guidance:
The Task Force will have as its charge the analysis of particular issues associated with the burgeoning area of electronic publishing, including peer refereeing, freedom of information, intellectual property protection, storage and retrieval of data and whatever other concerns it may identify. Our precedent is the Association's Committee on Computer operations which, during its active life, made many valuable contributions, some of which have had lasting influence upon techniques utilized in our research.
The membership of the Task Force is as follows:
In Fall 2006 the Task Force produced a policy statement on electronic publications and scholarly work in digital formats that has been endorsed by the Board of Directors of the APA and the Executive Committee of the AIA. Both organizations have publicized this statement in their newsletters and posted it on their web sites (APA | AIA).