Scholars Press and the Emory University Libraries participated in a three-year cooperative venture known as the SELA Journals Project. Supported by a study grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the project involved taking four of the print journals published by sponsors of Scholars Press and preparing them for electronic distribution. The project began with the 1996 issues of each journal: the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Biblical Archaeologist (now called Near Eastern Archaeology), and Critical Review of Books in Religion. In addition, half of the back issues of Semeia were made available in electronic format, and one pre-publication issues of Semeia also appeared online.
The aims of the project were to:
The journals were chosen because they contained a variety of approaches, formats, and content. The Journal of the American Academy of Religion, a quarterly publication, is a good example of a typical humanities-related scholarly journal. Each issue contains six to eight articles on a variety of topics, along with about 25 book reviews. The articles are generally anywhere from 15 to 30 pages in length and consist primarily of text, with few graphs, charts, or photographs.
Semeia, a journal published by the Society of Biblical Literature, is described by its subtitle as An Experimental Journal for Biblical Criticism. Each of its issues is focused on a single topic, and responses to other articles in the same issue are often included. The electronic version of Semeia, called E-Semeia, included pre-prints, or draft versions of articles, in order to give people an opportunity to respond online. The author of the pre-prints then had the opportunity to react to these responses in subsequent drafts and, ultimately, in the final form of the article.
The American Schools of Oriental Research participated in the SELA Journals Project by including Biblical Archaeologist. Unlike the previous two journals,Biblical Archaeologist resembles a trade magazine. In print, its 8 1/2 by 11 inch glossy pages contain many line drawings, maps, charts, and photographs with each article. Each issue also includes regular columns, a letter from the editor, and book reviews. Biblical Archaeologist appears four times a year. In 1998 Biblical Archaeologist was renamed Near Eastern Archaeology.
The final journal in the SELA Journals Project, Critical Review of Books in Religion (now no longer in publication) contained both a large number of regular length book reviews and a few longer review articles. The review articles analyzed creative new scholarship in a particular field, focusing on one book or a cluster of books on the same topic. Surveying books that covered the gamut of religion and religious studies, this journal appeared once a year.
For more detailed explanations of the goals of the SELA project, see articles by Gregory Glover and James R. Adair, originally published in the May 1996 Religious Studies News.
Because Scholars Press is no longer in business, many of the SELA files are not immediately available. Emory University has transferred the files to the ATLA Center for Electronic Resources in Theology and Religion, which will make the SELA publicly accessible again in the near future. Selected issues of Semeia and Biblical Archaeologist/Near Eastern Archaeology are currently available in image format.
SELA Project Manager: James R. Adair SELA Principal Encoder: Patrick Durusau