In its more than 350 year history, scholarly publishing has evolved from formal publication of discoveries by elite members of scholarly societies to open dissemination of scholarly research through new technological platforms that is increasingly subject to new and emerging forms of peer review and measured for impact by traditional and alternative metrics.
In the course of scholarly publishing's history, issues have arisen with respect to the economic sustainability of publishing's business model as well as how journals should be evaluated and their impact measured. Libraries have been at the forefront in proposing solutions and developing means for addressing these issues. [Source: ACRL Scholarly Communication Toolkit]