I strongly agree with the idea of an online journal. I have 'published' in
such journals before, in the development studies area. One of the main
motivations for online journals is that libraries in most countries are
cutting back on subscriptions, so it would be unrealistic to expect them to
buy traditional journals (especially political economy journals...). Online
journals are also easier to set-up and manage, and can potentially reach a
large audience that has no access to large university libraries.
I think the papers should be refereed in the interests of the author
(feedback) and the readers (quality). However, I propose that the refereeing
process should be non-traditional: we should try to redress the imbalance in
the process, stimulate constructive dialogues between authors and referees,
and reduce the autonomy of referees to 'shoot down' papers for trivial
reasons, protected under the cloak of secrecy.
Alfredo Saad-Filho.