REPORT ON STUDY TOUR TO KOREA AND SWITZERLAND
Under framework of the project on “Strengthening the Development Research and Policy Analysis Capacity of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) (Phase II) funded by the Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA), a study tour delegation headed by Dr. Nguyen Xuan Trinh, CIEM Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Vietnam Economic Management Review (VEMR) to Korea and Switzerland. The other members of delegation are three staffsfrom VEMR, one from CID, one from Administrative Office and one from CIEM-DANIDA Administrative Assistant who is organizer for the study tour.
The major objectives of the study tour aim to learning/sharing experiences on editorial, publication and library works with publication units and libraries of Korea research Institutes and Geneva-based International Institutes from 14 to 23 June 2007.
During the time from 14 to 19 June 2007, the delegation had meetings with the publication units of Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET), Industrial Economics Review and Knowledge Information Services Department; Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP),Journal of International Economic Studies and visited their libraries. The delegation also had meeting withEditorial Board of Maeil Daily Newspaper (Maeil Sheimun) and paid visit to its printing office in Daegu city, had meeting with Library-in-charge of AndongUniversity and visited its Library.
From 20 to 23 June 2007, the delegation worked with some related units of Geneva-based International Organizations, namelyWorld Trade Organization (WTO), United Nations (UN), UNCTAD (United Nations Conference Trade and Development),United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) and International Labour Organization (ILO).
The major interested issues of the study tour were (i) organizational structure, editorial and publication procedures, process of the visited journal publication units and (ii) processes and traditional and e- library service of the libraries.
The report is structured into three sections. First Section describes editorial and publication works of the visited institutes/organizations. Second Section introduces organization and library works. The Last Section makes some conclusions and perception drawn from the study tour.
1. Editorial and publication works
1.1 Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET)
KIET was established by the Korean Government to carry out research and develop policies that meet the national vision and related goals. KIET's primary roles are to advise the Korean government on industrial policy and to undertake research on effective public and private strategies to optimize national productivity and competitiveness. The Institute concentrates on the most essential and current issues facing Korea's government, businesses, and industrial sectors in adapting to ongoing globalization, unrelenting informatization, and revolutionary technological changes. KIET has 145 staff members, of which research staff accounts for 114.
KIET has had three periodicals, namely: KIET Industrial Economic Review (IER) (in English), KIET Industrial Economic Review (in Korean) and e-KIET. Notably, despite its long-time establishment, KIET has recently released the first number of English- version of IER (in December 2006).
The editorial and publication process and procedure of KIET IER (in both English and Korean versions) can be summarized as the following:
Issue Identification => Notification to Managing Editor=> Editorial Committee Decision=> Director Approval=> Final Editing=> Publication.
It is noteworthy that KIET has paid significant efforts in developing its periodicals, especially in terms of the institute budget spending. For IER, the annual budget expenditures account for $36,000 and $52,000 for the English version (44 pages) and Korean version (80 pages), respectively; for the eight – page e-KIET, the annual budget reaches as much as $24,000.
The e-KIETIER subscribers are various, includingGovernment organization, research institutes etc.(845 units) are free of charge.A significant number of organizations and business entities (145) (for instance, Shinyoung Securities),has a status of memberships. IERs (in Korean version) are distributed freely or to subscribers (online application) and purchased in nationwide booksellers.
KIET intensifies online publication works. To date, the home page provides to customers a wide range of free PDF versions of research papers (currently 1,073), e-KIET(324), news briefing(126) etc.
Despite high qualification of the journal contributors and Editorial Board, enormous budget expenditures and worldwide availability, KIET seems to have had limited efficiency in commercializing its periodicals, including the English version of IER.
1.2 Korea Institute for International Economic Policy(KIEP)
KIEP was founded in 1990 as a government-funded economic research institute. It is a Korean think tank on international economy and its relationship with Korea. KIEP advises the government on all major international economic policy issues, and also serves as a warehouse of information on Korea’s international economic policies. KIEP has knowledgeable economic research staff in the country, with over 100 members, including 40 Ph.D- degree holders.
KIEP’s periodicals consist of Journal of International Economic Studies (JIES) (in both Korean and English), JIES E-Journal and webzine (mostly for newly published materials from selected think tanks, weekly published in HTML language). There is an online access to JIES in PDF format, while JIES in E-book format now is in process.
Established since 1997, the JIES Editorial Board has approximately 20 members including KIEP researchers and professors from its departments. It is worth noting that director of each department is responsible for quality of article(s) submitted to JIES by his research staff member(s).
The JIES editorial and publication process are quite “classical” and follow next sequences: Submission => Value Assessment (by Editorial Board members => Peer Review (2 reviewers, double – blind) => Paper Revision => Final Review (accept/reject) => Editing and Publishing.
The KIEP publications are distributed via a variety of modalities. The periodicals’ presentations are made by the government and press. KIEP also exchange its publications with research institutes, financial institutes and public associations. It is important that the publications supplies abroad are conducted by embassies, relevant institutions and KIEP affiliations.
Amongst KIEP publications, only marketing and selling of books can be regarded as successful and conducted by both “traditional” and electronic modalities. The customers may read and print the PDF file or buy the printed versions of books via KIEP website (shopping cart). The customers may, of course, still purchase books via post, e-mail, phone, or fax. KIEP books are also sold through regular bookstores in Korea. Here are a few stores where a large selection of Institute books can be found.
1.3 Information and Media Relations Division (IMRD) of WTO
The Publication Section, a service of IMRD is responsible for developing WTO publication policies, procedures and guidelines. The WTO Publications Group is committed to delivering the very best publishing solutions, sales and distribution to ensure that information, products and services are managed professionally, to maximize efficiency quality, impact and value.
The IMRD has very stringent editorial and publication process presented as the followings:
Preliminary Project Meeting => Final Text (Project Questionnaire Form) => Production Plan to Author(s) =>Review of Final Tex t=>Final Text sent for Translation => Design and Layout => Reviewing Proofs => Author signs the Final Proof => Printer Proof => Production => Delivery => Storage Stock => Marketing => Distribution => Sales
Some steps should be paid adequate attention to contents and procedures/process. The following describes more detailed rules of some steps.
The purpose of Preliminary Project Meeting is to develop a plan and review the (i) Publishing options (in - house, printer, co - publish); (ii) Project Questionnaire; (iii) Design; (iv) Publication objectives and audience; and (v) Target date for delivery and launch.
Apart from WTO editorial rules, the IMRD provides also very detailed and useful guidelines on reviewing proofs (see Box 1).
Box 1: Guidelines on Reviewing Proofs- When the initial layout is complete, and with each series of changes, you will receive proofs. Treat each proof as if it werethe final proof. Review every detail, including the small ones, such as captions, footnotes, dates names, addresses, phone numbers, website or e - mail addresses
- Do not submit changes between proof stages. Please wait until the next proof stage to provide any additional corrections. All corrections will need to be resubmitted for translation which will incur additional delay. Changes may be marked directly on the paper version of the proof or marked electronically in the Adobe. PDF document provided.
- The first Proof is the primary opportunity to review editorial changes in layout form and to make substantive changes to text, photos, graphics, layout, covers, etc. To accommodate last - minute updates.
- When reviewing the second proof, minor changes, such as correcting typographical errors, inserting a word, etc. may be made at this stage of production. Major changes, such as inserting or deleting large blocks of copy or rearranging text or photograph/graphics placement, will require a major redesign of the publication and can increase costs. Major a change to the scheduled delivery date.
- When reviewing the third proof, you should only need to check the changes you requested against the second proof. This is your final opportunity to confirm that all requested changes have been made ;only typographical changes will be accepted at this stage, further requests for text changes will not be accepted.
The marketing promotion measures are quite comprehensive and proved to be very efficient. First, the Project Questionnaire form is considered to be very helpful for publicizing market and selling book effectively. The promotional activities include audio/video clips, electronic and print color brochures, posters and features in the WTO publications Catalogue. The publication will run as a "feature" item on the WTO homepage. Web announcements will be sent to over 110,000 registered WTO web users.
Second, press launches, press releases and wed "news items" are an effective way of bringing a high - profile publication to the attention of the media and a wider community. WTO's electronic newsletter "Focus" and the WTO Bookshop newsletter are both available on the WTO website and are excellent promotional tools to announce new titles.
Last, but not least, IMRD frequently sends copies of the publication to trade specialists for review and endorsements, an important way to bring increased interest to the publication.
In respect to distribution and sale, IMRD ensures all WTO Members, WTO Observers, Organizations, WTO Secretariat, WTO depository and exchange libraries as various international commerce, providing global distribution to updated mailing lists (+ 1000 copies).
The WTO has a growing network of global sales agents providing a world wide presence, providing sales transactions in many currencies and representation at International Book Fairs.
IMRD provides sales services via the WTO Online Bookshop to ensure access to the Publication, 24 hours a day, anywhere in the world. The paper version is prominently displayed in the WTO Bookshop in Geneva, Switzerland.
1.4 Other Institutes/Organizations
The visits to other publication units of Maeil Daily Newspaper Editorial Board in Deagu city (Korea), Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprises Development (UNCTAD) and ILO Publication group (in Geneva) have shown staff with high professionalism, responsibility of staff members, and effective cooperation amongst the stakeholders involved. It was impressive that the contents of the journals and newspaper cannot be influenced by the political intervention or ideological pressure. The best example is the case of Maeil Daily newspaper (published in Korean and English). Despite being governed by an editorial board from Catholic University of Daegu, the contents of the newspaper have not been influenced by catholic ideology and it has been one of the most favorite and famous in Korea and well-known in the world amongst a wide range of non-catholic readers.
2. Library service provisions
During the above-mentioned period, the delegation visited the library of AndongUniversity (Korea) and Library of Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprises Development (UNCTAD), The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) Library. During the meetings, the CIEM delegation and directors and staffs of the libraries have mainly exchanged the following issues:
- Background, organizational structures, information and data resources, and services and activities of the visited libraries;
- Introduction to and study on e-libraries, e-databases, and online databases;
- Introduction to the libraries’ websites, study on organizing and running the websites, the ways to use such websites to exploit online-information resources, as well as to provide readers with information accesses; and
- Experiences on setting up cooperation with other libraries working in the same field, and establishing consortium to share operation costs and commercial databases, national and international information resources.
As far as organization, resources, and activities of the libraries are concerned, librarian and documentation activities are generally managed in a very professional manner, and have developed with highly electronicalized and digitalized orientation.
Andong National University Library and UNOG Library represent for two major kinds of library systems, namely: academic libraries and public libraries. It should be noted that both libraries are well developed in terms of facilities, ability to manage and share information resources, experiences in building and maintaining interlibrary networks and consortium; also, their valuable supports for targeted research communities and public groups are undeniable. The librarians serve their readers in professional and friendly manner. All of them try to build user-tailored librariesto actively bring the libraries to targeted users, study users’ needs and satisfy their needs.
Andong National University Library provides students and faculty members with academic materials and information services. Since first opening in 1979, the library has been growing continuously. Facilities include a function-specific materials room, seating for 1,200 persons, a collection of over 1,300 periodicals and 500,000 volumes. The library also has electronic materials such as various academic databases with full text, e-book, e-journal and users can access all information by connection to library homepage.
The UNOG Library, previously known as the League of Nations Library, was founded in 1919 and became the United Nations Library at Geneva when the League’s assets were transferred to the United Nations in 1946. Its basic objective is to serve as a central Library for UNOG, the specialized agencies and other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations headquartered in Geneva, for the Permanent Missions in Geneva, and for qualified external researchers. Collections of the library consist of more than 100,000 books, 9,000 serial titles, and 180 CD-ROMs.
The Library and Archive services at UNOG offer a number of their resources electronically. The Library maintains three online catalogues: Users can access the main library catalogue, which includes all external materials acquired by the library. An online catalogue is also available for the Archives. In addition, the Library subscribes to a number of commercial databases. The library’s users can access to such catalogues via the library’s homepage. It offers 9 specialized reading room. The specialized librarians are available to guide users in their use of collections and information resources.
It is worth noting that both of the two libraries pay much attention to setting up and maintaining inter-library networks so as to share their specialized information resources and to contribute financial resources to buy standards international commercial databases with others involving in the same fields.
Main users of the two libraries are researchers, staffs, and students. In addition, both of the two libraries extend their coverage to some eligible readers outside the organizations. Beside normal activities regarding library and documentation lending and archiving, the two libraries also hold other activities serving their readers, such as exhibitions and cultural exchanges.
3. Some conclusions and perception drawn from the study tour
The study tour has helped to broaden the delegation members’ knowledge and vision in editorial, publication and library-information fields, contributing to enhancement of efficiency and effectiveness of the works.
Some conclusions and perception drawn from the study tour are:
Firstly, the prerequisites for having high quality of the periodicals, particularly journals are high professionalism, responsibility of and adequate incentives for staff members, and effective cooperation amongst the stakeholders involved. Of course, adequate budget expenditures are also very important for successful development of the publication products. To a significant extent, high qualification of (articles) contributors is no doubt a factor of journal development.