UTILITY AND IMPACT OF QR CODES AND BARCODES IN SCHOLARLY JOURNALS

In 1994 a squared two-dimensional barcode was invented by Toyota Company which changed and speed up the concept of tracking and identification. They chose its name QR which stands for Quick Response code. Quick Response codes can convey data such as show a geographical location, make a phone call, link to a simple text, link to a website or template email, access to a portable document format (PDF), display an image, link and download a specific application on a mobile device or WiFi login. Academic journal leaders should notice that QR code as a unique shaped matrix code is increasingly being used by prestigious publishers and scientific journals. But has been ignored by eastern scientific journals and academic institutes for many years. As the author checked all English Iranian journals, no Iranian academic publication or publisher has and uses QR code or even barcode on their websites or on their journal covers till 16 Dec 2019. In this review, the author aimed to explore the use of QR codes specifically for academic publications, identify perceptions towards their use and any information that has been encountered during implementation.