scope:

Purpose and Scope

These recommended practices are intended to help the scholarly publishing community develop a more standardized approach to publishing what has become known as Supplemental Materials for Journal Articles in a rapidly changing technology environment. The intent is to lessen the burden on all of the parties engaged in the publishing process, to ensure that Supplemental Materials delivered in connection with journal articles add substance to the scholarship, to make Supplemental Materials more discoverable, and to aid in preserving them.

Existing Supplemental Material may predate electronic publishing. For example, older journals, which have been digitized post-publication, may have had microfiche supplements. In an ideal world, all would be digitized; however, available resources may preclude applying these recommendations to older materials. Consequently, publishers may wish to concentrate their efforts only on future articles.