Villanueva Ready


The Journal of Community Informatics   ISSN: 1721-4441

Editorial 

A time to pause 

For fifteen years now, the Journal of Community Informatics has strived to provide a 
solid venue for research, discussion and dissemination of all matters related to 
Community Informatics. Working from a fully committed dedication to open access and 
free publishing, only academic standards have been used to select contributions. 
Michael Gurstein, our founding editor, defined the ethos of collaborative endeavor with 
the support of a variety of people from all around the world.  

However, as it happens, the realities of producing such a Journal had been always 
challenging. After assuming the responsibilities of running the Journal, I discovered that 
the interest the Journal generates faces the complex demands of making it happening, 
from the technical side to the editorial processes that are necessary for maintaining both 
the openness and the quality of the Journal.  

In the past two years, the conditions have deteriorated. Academic demands on potential 
reviewers have combined with the limited time the editorial team has experienced, 
under the specific demands that we have faced. Technical support has also created a 
number of challenges, including a too long period during which the Journal was 
basically inoperative due to its server being bombarded by spammers.  

On the technical side, the Journal is now on a stable position, with good hosting under 
the University of Kentucky’s College of Communication and Information. The editorial 
side, however, has reached a point where the challenges have surpassed our ability to 
keep things going smoothly.  

Too many people have been failed by us. It is unfortunate but real that we haven’t been 
able to make the Journal work. Also, my personal target to release the editorship was 
2019, and my professional demands are not allowing for a different deadline.  

!1

Eduardo Villanueva-
Mansilla

Editor in chief, The Journal of Community 
Informatics 

Corresponding Author.  

evillan@gmail.com  

mailto:evillan@gmail.com


The Journal of Community Informatics   ISSN: 1721-4441

So, the time has come to accept the fact that the Journal does not have a support system 
to make it possible to continue operate in a proper fashion. We cannot guarantee a fully 
open but editorially rigorous Journal any longer.  

This means that we have to stop accepting submissions and that we have to ask for the 
understanding of those already committed to the Journal, to whom I am addressing 
personally. The Journal will continue to be available under its domain, under the same 
openness that it has been its norm from the beginning.  

A small number of submissions will be published under this volume, adding to those 
that are being released together with this editorial.  

I am completely open to any ideas to return to regular publication of the Journal. 
However, any of these will require a new editorial team.  

To all our contributors, thanks for your interest and dedication. 

To all the readers, thanks for your support and interest. I wish you well.  

!2