An important scholarly journal that was once in danger of being discontinued is now being delivered online using software co-developed by Cornell University Library.

Medieval Philosophy and Theology, edited for 10 years by Cornell's Scott MacDonald, professor and acting department chair of philosophy and the Norma K. Regan Professor in Christian Studies, is thriving as an online publication using Digital Publishing System (DPubS), an open-source publishing platform developed by the libraries at Cornell and Pennsylvania State University. DPubS supports change in scholarly publishing by giving academic libraries and their partners the means to organize and disseminate scholarly communications electronically.

The journal's editorial board, which comprises the field's top scholars in North America and Europe, began to explore nontraditional publishing options when Cambridge University Press wanted to halt production of the journal because of its small subscription base.

"An academic journal's being available online and open-access makes its content accessible to the widest possible readership since the Web knows virtually no geographical, institutional or financial barriers," MacDonald said. "For Medieval Philosophy and Theology, a small specialized journal, the move from print- and subscription-based publication to online and open-access publication has been crucial to survival. It has freed the journal from the demands of institutional publishers, allowed it to retain its own identity, and promises to extend its reach and influence."

The library's department of Digital Consulting and Production Services worked with MacDonald to implement DPubS and design the journal's Web interface. Not only is the journal now freely available, but soon all its back issues will be digitized and accessible online.

To read Medieval Philosophy and Theology, go to http://cip.cornell.edu/mpat. To learn more about DPubS, visit http://dpubs.org.

Chris Philipp is a writer and editor for Library Communications.