Electronic publications: the problem of definition

The article presents an analysis of current national standards in the field of publishing, including electronic publications. Much uncertainty exists about the definition of the term ‘electronic publications’. The authors state that there is no general agreement about the terms and definitions in the field of electronic publishing. The purpose of the article is to characterize the main problems concerning the definition of electronic publications. Nowadays editing electronic publications is one of the key aspects of further development of publishing industry as a science. However, the notion of ‘electronic edition’ is artificially limited by the current system of national standards. This term does not fully reflect the whole range of existing publications. The article provides an analysis of scientific studies which make an attempt to give the current definition of ‘electronic publications’ and set the main criteria for selecting such publications. It is stressed that the refusal to recognize websites as electronic publications in the national standard impedes the development of the typological model and the basic principles of editing such publications and deteriorates the quality of their editing and pre-publishing preparation. In conclusion, an attempt is made to provide a common definition which would cover the entire array of existing electronic editions. It would contribute to creating up-to-date classification of electronic publications.