portal: Libraries and the Academy will make copy-edited e-prints of articles in forthcoming issues available.
Here's an excerpt from the press release:
The Johns Hopkins University Press and portal: Libraries and the Academy have announced an agreement that will provide increased access to research about the role of academic libraries and librarianship.
Beginning with the April 2010 issue, copy-edited versions of all accepted articles will be available in an open-access web environment. Six articles for the upcoming issue have already been posted online. The final, published version of the journal will still appear in Project MUSE®, a subscription-based online database of scholarly journals based at the JHU Press.
"As we move into our next decade, we want to advance past the traditional ways of presenting information and take advantage of new forms of scholarly communication," says Sarah Pritchard, the Charles Deering McCormick University Librarian at Northwestern University and editor of portal, currently in its 10th year of publication. "We appreciate the support of the Johns Hopkins University Press, which has been a good partner and good publishing venue for the journal."
The agreement, which will be re-evaluated after 18 months, allows for manuscripts to appear online after the copy-editing process is complete, but prior to the publication of the print version of the journal. The files will have a watermark to identifying its status in the publishing process.