JCE Software, 4B1: Editorial

The Aims of JCE: Software

John W. Moore
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706-1396

Note:
This issue is out of print.

A recent letter from a subscriber raised the question of the aims of JCE: Software. Are we trying to compete with commercial publishers of software? Are we trying to provide a means by which research and development of improved instructional materials can be encouraged, disseminated, and rewarded? Are we trying to do something else altogether?
I addressed these issues in the editorials that appeared in Volume IA, No. 1 (Apple II) and Volume IB, No. 1 (MS-DOS/IBM Compatible). While reading the subscriber's letter, however, I realized that enough time had passed that it would be appropriate to rethink such questions and to update what was said when we had just begun publication. As usual, comments from subscribers are welcome regarding this and other issues involved in electronic publication.
JCE: Software is published for the same reasons that the Journal of Chemical Education is published: to provide a medium for dissemination and discussion of information that can improve the teaching of chemistry. In the case of JCE: Software the information invariably involves some form of instructional technology. Our operation is patterned upon that of the parent Journal, as well as other academic journals. It is not intended to usurp the role of software publishers, but rather to complement it, just as academic journals in the print medium complement the efforts of textbook and other publishers. Our primary aim is to foster the improvement of chemistry teaching by providing our subscribers with new ideas about how to use technology effectively. In doing so we provide clear and concrete examples in the form of software on computer disks or in other media. Usually there are several of these in each issue, ranging from brief notes to major programs. As with any other journal there are occasionally errors in what we publish, and we continually update earlier publications through corrigenda in each issue; sometimes these are computer-readable.
As an academic journal we do not pay royalties to software authors. We do, however, provide peer review and the concomitant publication credit; each issue is abstracted by Chemical Abstracts just as the Journal of Chemical Education is. In order to enhance dissemination of information, authors are required to submit not only programs on disk but documentation as well. The latter constitutes whatever written or other materials are needed to tell a chemistry teacher where in the curriculum the software could be used effectively, how to use it, what it will teach, and why it is an improvement over other media that might teach the same subject. Often, as in the case of this issue, authors (or other program users) also provide tutorials that show teachers and students the features of a program. Less common, but very useful, are activities or exercises that can be used by teachers as assignments for their students. All of these are evaluated by peer reviewers, revised and enhanced by the author, and rounded into an issue by the editors. The end result is an issue such as this.
JCE: Software is an outgrowth of the Computer Series feature of the Journal of Chemical Education and of Project SERAPHIM; however, it is different from both. More than a decade ago the Computer Series began publishing short descriptions of computer programs upon condition that program authors would make the programs available to interested readers. Nine years ago Project SERAPHIM began distributing disks containing programs described in the Computer Series, providing a much more convenient and effective means for dissemination. Originally such programs were almost invariably in FORTRAN or BASIC. The former were supplied as source code that had to be recompiled for each type of computer on which they would run, and the latter were interpreted line by line as they ran. Hence both served as models from which other programmers could learn tools of the trade, and essentially all SERAPHIM programs could be read by programmers and adapted to suit local needs. Pascal and compiled BASIC programs have become the most common types of submissions to JCE: Software, although HyperCard stacks, which contain the programmer's code in human-readable form, are also common. This presents somewhat of a problem if our aim is to disseminate information for programmers as well as for users of JCE: Software. How do we make it possible for those who want to learn new techniques to do so? And how can programmers among our subscribers adapt our materials to their specific needs?
Following our model of an academic journal, we have concluded that publication in JCE: Software involves, along with the credit received, willingness to participate in a larger community of programmers, just as publication in a chemical research journal implies disclosure of enough data that the community of researchers in a particular area would be able to reproduce the research done. Consequently we require that authors submit source code for their programs whenever it is not automatically available. The editors will provide such source code to readers who request it in writing and send $15 ($20 foreign, including Canada) to cover the costs of disks, duplication, and postage.
This policy of making available source code is not without controversy. Many authors have spent long hours and considerable ingenuity developing techniques that make their software better. They are understandably loathe to risk theft of such intellectual property, especially when theft is so easy to carry out and so difficult to detect. (Authors of commercial software often apply draconian measures to prevent others from reading their source code.) In the spirit of open discourse that we advocate, any reader who makes use of an author's source code should inform the author regarding that use and should be careful to cite the author's work in any derivative work. Commercial use of JCE: Software source code, except by the original author in a derivative work, is unethical and strictly prohibited. To help protect authors, source code, as well as the published compiled programs, is copyrighted by JCE: Software and falls under the same restrictions as the rest of an issue. In order to keep authors informed about possible use of their source code our policy also includes informing each author about every copy of source code that we distribute. We expect that this will engender far more collaborations and other cooperative efforts than there will be intellectual theft to discourage; I believe the problem of intellectual theft to be a very minor one.
Only time will tell whether our concept of a software journal is appropriate and workable. I sincerely hope that it is, because it provides the potential for improved communication among programmers and hence for much improved instruction in chemistry. The more we can do to expand the number of persons who can contribute new ideas for utilizing technology to improve chemical education, the better off we will all be in the long run.

First Published: April 1991
Citation: Moore, J. W. The Aims of JCE: Software J. Chem. Educ. Software 4B1
Keywords:

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Last Updated: April 26, 2001
Created: December 3, 1996 Created by: J. L. Holmes
Comments to: jceonline@chem.wisc.edu

© 1997 Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.



The Aims of JCE: Software
John W. Moore University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706-1396

Note:	This issue is out of print.

A recent letter from a subscriber raised the question of the aims of JCE: Software. Are we trying to compete with commercial publishers of software? Are we trying to provide a means by which research and development of improved instructional materials can be encouraged, disseminated, and rewarded? Are we trying to do something else altogether? I addressed these issues in the editorials that appeared in Volume IA, No. 1 (Apple II) and Volume IB, No. 1 (MS-DOS/IBM Compatible). While reading the subscriber's letter, however, I realized that enough time had passed that it would be appropriate to rethink such questions and to update what was said when we had just begun publication. As usual, comments from subscribers are welcome regarding this and other issues involved in electronic publication. JCE: Software is published for the same reasons that the Journal of Chemical Education is published: to provide a medium for dissemination and discussion of information that can improve the teaching of chemistry. In the case of JCE: Software the information invariably involves some form of instructional technology. Our operation is patterned upon that of the parent Journal, as well as other academic journals. It is not intended to usurp the role of software publishers, but rather to complement it, just as academic journals in the print medium complement the efforts of textbook and other publishers. Our primary aim is to foster the improvement of chemistry teaching by providing our subscribers with new ideas about how to use technology effectively. In doing so we provide clear and concrete examples in the form of software on computer disks or in other media. Usually there are several of these in each issue, ranging from brief notes to major programs. As with any other journal there are occasionally errors in what we publish, and we continually update earlier publications through corrigenda in each issue; sometimes these are computer-readable. As an academic journal we do not pay royalties to software authors. We do, however, provide peer review and the concomitant publication credit; each issue is abstracted by Chemical Abstracts just as the Journal of Chemical Education is. In order to enhance dissemination of information, authors are required to submit not only programs on disk but documentation as well. The latter constitutes whatever written or other materials are needed to tell a chemistry teacher where in the curriculum the software could be used effectively, how to use it, what it will teach, and why it is an improvement over other media that might teach the same subject. Often, as in the case of this issue, authors (or other program users) also provide tutorials that show teachers and students the features of a program. Less common, but very useful, are activities or exercises that can be used by teachers as assignments for their students. All of these are evaluated by peer reviewers, revised and enhanced by the author, and rounded into an issue by the editors. The end result is an issue such as this. JCE: Software is an outgrowth of the Computer Series feature of the Journal of Chemical Education and of Project SERAPHIM; however, it is different from both. More than a decade ago the Computer Series began publishing short descriptions of computer programs upon condition that program authors would make the programs available to interested readers. Nine years ago Project SERAPHIM began distributing disks containing programs described in the Computer Series, providing a much more convenient and effective means for dissemination. Originally such programs were almost invariably in FORTRAN or BASIC. The former were supplied as source code that had to be recompiled for each type of computer on which they would run, and the latter were interpreted line by line as they ran. Hence both served as models from which other programmers could learn tools of the trade, and essentially all SERAPHIM programs could be read by programmers and adapted to suit local needs. Pascal and compiled BASIC programs have become the most common types of submissions to JCE: Software, although HyperCard stacks, which contain the programmer's code in human-readable form, are also common. This presents somewhat of a problem if our aim is to disseminate information for programmers as well as for users of JCE: Software. How do we make it possible for those who want to learn new techniques to do so? And how can programmers among our subscribers adapt our materials to their specific needs? Following our model of an academic journal, we have concluded that publication in JCE: Software involves, along with the credit received, willingness to participate in a larger community of programmers, just as publication in a chemical research journal implies disclosure of enough data that the community of researchers in a particular area would be able to reproduce the research done. Consequently we require that authors submit source code for their programs whenever it is not automatically available. The editors will provide such source code to readers who request it in writing and send $15 ($20 foreign, including Canada) to cover the costs of disks, duplication, and postage. This policy of making available source code is not without controversy. Many authors have spent long hours and considerable ingenuity developing techniques that make their software better. They are understandably loathe to risk theft of such intellectual property, especially when theft is so easy to carry out and so difficult to detect. (Authors of commercial software often apply draconian measures to prevent others from reading their source code.) In the spirit of open discourse that we advocate, any reader who makes use of an author's source code should inform the author regarding that use and should be careful to cite the author's work in any derivative work. Commercial use of JCE: Software source code, except by the original author in a derivative work, is unethical and strictly prohibited. To help protect authors, source code, as well as the published compiled programs, is copyrighted by JCE: Software and falls under the same restrictions as the rest of an issue. In order to keep authors informed about possible use of their source code our policy also includes informing each author about every copy of source code that we distribute. We expect that this will engender far more collaborations and other cooperative efforts than there will be intellectual theft to discourage; I believe the problem of intellectual theft to be a very minor one. Only time will tell whether our concept of a software journal is appropriate and workable. I sincerely hope that it is, because it provides the potential for improved communication among programmers and hence for much improved instruction in chemistry. The more we can do to expand the number of persons who can contribute new ideas for utilizing technology to improve chemical education, the better off we will all be in the long run.


News \| Issues \| CD-ROM / Video \| Find It! \| Technical Support \| For Authors
JCE Online \| Journal \| Software \| Internet \| Happenings \| About JCE \| Contact JCE

Last Updated: April 26, 2001 Created: December 3, 1996	Created by: J. L. Holmes Comments to: jceonline@chem.wisc.edu

© 1997 Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.