The Format of the Online Scientific Journal in the Extensive Communication Model

The scientific journal has been greatly affected by the advent of its online digital accessibility. It is the priority publication medium for scientific communication, one of the document categories where changes in the electronic format discovers new and greater possibilities other than the traditional ones. Extensive communication – also known as the emblematic model of network interactions – comes equally in new forms of document production and in the organization of the technical landscape in which scientific information adapts to flexible and unstable forms. Gradual changes (in support, format, content, and publication type) were observed in 400 online electronic journals, all by main international publishers, as made available at the CAPES portal (http://www.periodicos.capes. gov.br). A data collection was assembled through a checklist for 70 variables, and the results were inserted into a spreadsheet for an initial statistical analysis. This investigation has shown that the new format is outstanding due to the insertion of tools and services, consolidating extensive communication by means of interactivity, hypertextuality, and hypermediation, also known as the main distinctive features of the electronic format. After technological resources bring the online format to maturity, they establish a new perception of the contents of journals. The results demonstrate the dependence of the electronic format on the printed format. By combining all the variables to measure the levels of interactivity, hypertextuality, and hypermediation, journals were grouped by platform and the results have proven that there is no direct relationship between the three characteristic features of the online electronic format. In other words, the most interactive groups are not necessarily the most hypertextual or hypermedia ones. The performance of the journals was also evaluated comparatively across platforms.