This report examines the issues associated with moves toward electronic-only publication of journals. It is based in large part on interviews with two-dozen academic librarians and journal publishers. Interviews were conducted with collection officers and others at a dozen ARL member libraries; the rest of the interviews were with publishing staff of societies and university presses, publishing platform hosts, and publishing production consultants.
Publishers and libraries today find themselves in an extended transition zone between print-only and e-only journals. The persistence of dual-format journals suggests that substantial obstacles will need to be surmounted if the transformation to e-only publication is to be complete. Approximately 60% of the universe of some 20,000 active peer-reviewed journals is available in electronic form. Online journals are popular with readers; online use of library-provided journals exceeds print use by a factor of at least ten, according to a University of California study. While electronic formats offer powerful attractions for users, the costs of supporting hybrid collections are straining library resources and the economies of the e-only collection are still speculative....
A few publishers, having adjusted their pricing to the dual-format model, are trying to hasten the day when they can discontinue print and the associated costs. But most are either navigating a gradual transition or holding onto print....
Interviews with librarians revealed a remarkable uniformity of views about the forces driving their institutions toward adoption of electronic-only journals....
“The users have voted—and they want the convenience of electronic.” ...For many if not most campus users of journals, electronic access is a productivity enhancer. And for libraries, enhancing productivity is a potentially powerful means to demonstrate their return on investment....
Publisher motivations, like those of libraries, emerge from financial exigencies and user expectations. Just as libraries are straining under the burden of subscribing to dual formats, publishers’ financial statements also reflect the additive effect of producing dual formats....
Most publishers appear to recognize the risk that, even in the scholarly world, readers will eventually stop using information that is not available online....
Since pricing for the electronic version is typically based on the print, it has taken time for publishers to decouple the pricing for print and electronic formats....
Electronic versions are more often sold as a package with other society titles or additional years of content. To price the package attractively for a broad range of large and small institutions may require tiered pricing or consortia discounts. Handling these electronic sales involves staff with the expertise to manage consortia negotiations and complex relationships with multiple agents globally....
There is a widely held belief among publishers that discontinuing print will result in some subscription loss....
Comment. The report does not discuss OA, and applies more to TA ejournals than OA ejournals. But there are nevertheless implications for OA. As I argued recently:
As high-quality, high-prestige journals make this transition [from print to electronic-only], scholars who still associate quality and prestige with print will (happily or unhappily) start to unlearn the association. At the same time, the rise of high-quality, high-prestige OA journals will confirm the new recognition that quality and medium are independent variables. TA publishers are joining OA advocates in creating an academic culture in which online publications earn full credit for promotion and tenure. Online publications need not be OA, of course, but changing the culture to accept online publications is more than half the battle for changing the culture to accept OA publications.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 12/06/2007 01:03:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
