JCE WebWare is divided into two major categories—open review and peer review. Peer-reviewed materials will go through the Journal’s customary review process. These materials must include significant documentation concerning the application including background, instructions for use, and example exercises. Materials submitted for peer review will be placed in open review until they have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication. Then they will be transferred to the peer-review section of WebWare and a brief description (limited to 400 words, and written by the author(s)) will be published in the Journal of Chemical Education. These descriptions will be listed in the table of contents and will therefore be abstracted by Chemical Abstracts. After they have been reviewed, edited, accepted for publication, and published the materials will be available only to JCE subscribers.

Materials suitable for the open review category include small applications that are limited in scope but potentially of great utility to some teachers and students (we refer to these applications as snippets), larger applications that are sparsely documented, and applications that do not fit anywhere else. Before any item is placed in open review, the JCE WebWare editors will give it a preliminary evaluation. If an item is considered appropriate for dissemination, it will then be placed in open review. At this point, users will be invited to submit comments on the various applications, much as is done in some popular commercial websites and in many software archives. Materials in open review will be available to anyone, whether or not they subscribe to JCE. Materials may be submitted with the request that they remain in open review in perpetuity. This means that they will remain freely available for the long term and provides a mechanism by which authors can insure that their materials will be continually available on a stable Web site.

As the open-review process evolves, our vision is that comments from users will stimulate authors to enhance and improve their applications, will help teachers and students select materials appropriate for their use, will provide ideas and guidance regarding how best to incorporate materials into courses and individual study, and will encourage others to develop JCE WebWare materials. Our objective is to develop a synergistic on-line community of developers and users.

Given the increasing importance of the Internet as a teaching tool, we see JCE WebWare as a logical extension of some earlier and highly successful ways of disseminating computer applications. These approaches include the NSF-funded Project SERAPHIM, JCE Software, the “Computer Bulletin Board”, and other computer-related columns that have appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education. The mantra of JCE Software is “It’s not about software, it is software.” JCE WebWare brings that same concept to the Internet. Rather than focusing on written descriptions of various Web-based applications, JCE WebWare focuses on the applications themselves. In the case of materials in open-review, it will consist almost solely of applications that can be freely downloaded and used by anyone.

Do you have one or more Web-deliverable applications that others could use? If so, please submit them, either for open review or for peer review. Information and details of the submission process may be found here.

The idea of JCE WebWare will undoubtedly continue to evolve, and we always welcome additions, comments, and suggestions. Send your questions or comments by email to Flick Coleman or Ed Fedosky.