The United States as a market for international scholarly publications

Fred Kobrak, who has spent much of his career marketing U.S. scholarly books abroad, puts his experience to use in viewing the task of foreign publishers who wish to sell their products in the U.S. market. In so doing, he discusses changes in the environment of scientific publishing and raises the interesting question of how one distinguishes between “domestic” and “foreign” publishers. He suggests that “U.S.” publishers have much to learn from “foreign” competitors, and that competition can benefit publishers, their authors, and their customers. Fred Kobrak is a partner in Adrian Higham Associates, consultants, on the international publishing industry. He recently retired from the presidency of Collier Macmillan International, New York, the international arm of Macmillan Publishing Company. Address for correspondence     

The benefits of resource discovery for publishers: a librarian's view

A core goal of librarians is to maximize usage of the content to which their libraries subscribe. Webscale or resource discovery systems offer a single search box for library users to access subscribed content. This article examines usage data at the University of Huddersfield to show how resource discovery has helped to increase the usage of publisher content that has been made available to discovery vendors, and considers the implications for publishers who are yet to do this. The article concludes that resource discovery systems have effectively levelled the playing field, allowing small to medium‐sized publishers to make content discoverable to users, and encourages publishers who do not have their content indexed in resource discovery systems to speak to discovery service vendors in order to do so at the earliest opportunity.     

An index to publisher quality revisited: a partial replication

A replication of the Calhoun/Bracken 1983 study of publishers listed in Choice's annual Outstanding Academic Books was conducted. Data were gathered for the years 1988–1992 and compared with the results of the Calhoun/Bracken analysis. The results show that several of the commercial and university publishers that had been prominent in 1983 had been replaced by new presses. During the decade between studies, university publishers have showed marked growth as a percentage of the top 60 presses identified in the two studies. Collection development librarians need to be aware of the fluctuations in publisher output and reputations over time in the Outstanding Academic Book lists.     

学术出版商社会责任与知识获取

[目的/意义] 在知识经济时代, 保障公众平等、低成本的知识获取成为学术出版商主要的社会责任之一。理清学术出版商的社会责任是什么, 学术出版商应如何推动公众的知识获取, 为学术出版商更好地履行社会责任提供借鉴。[方法/过程] 通过对Reed Elsevier等国际四大学术出版巨头的调查, 总结学术出版商推动知识获取的实践现状和存在的问题, 针对学术出版商如何推动知识获取提出建议。[结果/结论] 通过调查研究, 发现学术出版商在推动个人、机构和国家的知识获取方面确实做出了一些努力, 但是也存在信息公平、免费资源相对较少、涉及范围比较有限等问题。笔者认为, 学术出版商应在保障公众平等地获取信息资源、加强社会公共知识建设、缩小发展中国家与发达国家的信息鸿沟等方面有所作为。     

JUSP in time: a partnership approach to developing a journal usage statistics portal

The Journal Usage Statistics Portal (JUSP) service is expanding rapidly, and aims to encompass all NESLi2‐participating publishers by the end of 2011, together with all UK higher‐education institutions subscribing to deals from those publishers. A key part of the success of JUSP will be the implementation of the Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) protocol for automatic harvesting of usage statistics directly from publishers. This article outlines development of the service and describes how JUSP is working with Oxford University Press to deliver usage statistics to libraries. We also describe future developments at JUSP, including the creation of our own SUSHI server, and explain how new initiatives and enhancements are developed and rolled out in conjunction with our participating institutions.     

Academic e-Book Publishing in China: An Investigation of Current Status and Publishers' Attitudes

This study investigates the current status and attitudes towards academic e-book publishing by mainland Chinese academic publishers through an online survey. This study collected survey data from 49 authoritative academic publishers in China, focusing on their e-book sales profiles and their perceptions of how e-book sales affect publishers and libraries. The data reveals that China's academic e-book industry is still at an early development stage and has a relatively small market. The findings show significant differences in the willingness and attitudes towards e-book publishing between SSH publishers and STEM publishers, and also demonstrate that the enhancement of the demand for e-books by academic libraries promotes the process of the digital transformation of academic publishers. This study then argues that Chinese academic publishers need to further improve the quality of academic e-books, accelerate the transition from academic content providers to academic content service providers, and strengthen their cooperation with stakeholders.     

Big Deal — good deal? Or is there a better deal?

The purchase ‘en bloc’ by library consortia of all journals published by one publisher – the so‐called ‘Big Deal’ – is bad for small publishers and for large libraries even if – in the short term – good for large publishers and for small libraries. The publishing and library communities need to find alternative purchasing models that provide better deals for those disadvantaged by the prevalence of the ‘Big Deal’ while retaining the benefit of scale in negotiation and supply.     

Production and content management implications for archival projects: a snapshot in May 2005

The British Library, under the auspices of the Joint Committee on Legal Deposit's sub‐committee for e‐journals, is conducting a pilot project to lay the groundwork for possible legislation for the legal deposit of electronic journals. One component of the project has been to understand the production environment that governs the creation of the published data, the content management systems that publishers have deployed and the ways in which publishers are able to distribute content to their partners. This work is a snapshot of a cross‐section of the UK journal‐publishing industry taken in May 2005.     

The extent of concentration in journal publishing

This study examines the extent of concentration in the journal publishing industry. A number of aspects are considered: publishers, journal impacts, countries, and languages. For journals indexed in JCR from 1997 to 2009, just 0.2% of publishers produce 50% of journals and articles, and 0.3% of publishers account for the top 50% of citations, impact factors and immediacy indices. More than a half of publishers in JCR are from four countries: USA, UK, Germany and Japan. In addition, more than a half of journals come from the USA and UK. Examining the publishers' interactions in terms of buying and selling journals shows the extent of change by acquisition, and the acquisition links between publishers. The findings confirm that the international market of journal publishing is essentially dominated by a few publishers.     

It is All About the Customer: How to Think Print + Platform + Product

Content developers and publishers are facing a myriad of challenges when it comes to producing content for customers. As the number of platforms, formats, and channels continue to increase, it is important for publishers to get a handle on effectively managing development and do so in a way that is agile and will serve customer needs. This article breaks down how publishers can think print, platform, and product in a way that customers will respond to.     

The ALPSP Learned Journals Collection

Selling journals to consortia and other large customers is increasingly difficult for small publishers, and yet libraries want their journals. The ALPSP Learned Journals Collection (ALJC) was put together, after considerable research, as an attempt to overcome this problem for ALPSP member publishers. Working through Swets Information Services, 247 journals from 25 publishers can be sold as a single package. Despite the difficulties, a single publisher agreement, customer licence, and pricing and revenue‐sharing model were all agreed upon. Customer reactions indicate that this is a real win–win solution for publishers and libraries.     

BioOne: building a sustainable alternative publishing model for non‐profit publishers

An account is given of the difficulties caused to smaller learned publishers and to the academic library system in the move to electronic delivery of results of scientific and medical research. BioOne, a co‐operative venture of such publishers and libraries, is then described with an account of its progress to date.     

Evaluation of the TALON Cooperative Acquisitions Program for monographs

The TALON Cooperative Acquisitions Program for monographs (TALON/CAP) was implemented in 1979 by eleven resource libraries in the South Central Regional Medical Library Program. Each participating library acquired books from selected publishers within a profile covering subject and format. The program was evaluated by comparing interlibrary loan requests, surveying participants, and analyzing cataloging records. The results were that ten of the eleven libraries significantly increased their coverage of assigned publishers, and that academic medical libraries are not all buying the same books, even from major medical publishers. The fifty-six publishers in the program accounted for 60% to 83% of the titles with 1977-80 imprints held by participating libraries. The computer-generated collection analysis reports provide a baseline for future collection management studies.     

Online piracy of publishers' content: a primer

Protection of copyrights owned by authors and publishers has grown significantly more complex in the Internet age. Digital piracy of published products is an expanding problem which must be continuously addressed. This article provides an overview of the scope and many current facets of online piracy affecting publishers, strategies being deployed to prevent the transmission of infringing content via the Internet, and legislative proposals to create enhanced enforcement mechanisms to combat the problem.     

“With a little help from my friends”: Training and education of professional booksellers and publishers in the Netherlands

Prospective and practicing booksellers and publishers in the Netherlands receive extensive training, through a variety of sources. This article describes the training centers and explains the way one of them has developed its curriculum. Job profiles for booksellers and publishers are outlined. It also discusses areas in which further training is needed. Hein H. Grünhagen is managing director of Vakopleiding Boekenbranche (Amsterdam), the institute for training and education on behalf of booksellers and publishers in the Netherlands. Vakopleiding Boekenbranche, a not-for-profit organization, is part of the Royal Dutch Book Trade Association (Koninklijke Vereeniging ter bevordering van de belangen des Boekhandels).     

Recent Trends and Developments in Publishing in Croatia

Abstract

Croatia considers the book a priority cultural product. Today various forces, both positive and negative, affect publishing in Croatia. A survey of traditional publishing in Croatia based on statistical data collected by the author in the Croatian ISBN Agency over the past 8 years introduces the main topic. The author then reports on the results of a survey of 1,000 publishers, aimed at establishing which medium publishers used for their books between 1993 and the beginning of 1998, the period when book production passed from printed to digital form. The research results show that modern electronic book forms have been gradually developing in Croatia in parallel with traditional publishing. The number of publishers producing books in electronic format is not great. However, the fact that nearly a quarter of the publishers who returned the questionnaire do produce electronic books, shows that Croatian publishers accept new technologies as they appear in countries with a developed publishing industry, onlyin amuch more modest scope. The author mentions electronic books published by as many as forty publishers, and gives a survey of online-bookstores in Croatia. Special attention is paid to book legislation in the country. As a conclusion the author proposes an incentive for electronic publishing.     

期刊社的学习型组织建设构想

围绕"六个强调"进行期刊社学习型组织的改革与实践,通过建立有效的信息反馈、组织反思、成员共享系统,使学习型组织建有所用,并将其贯穿于日常工作中,从而全面提高人员的综合能力和整体水平,走内涵式发展之路,促进期刊社和谐发展。     

Setting up a presence on the World Wide Web

There is considerable pressure on most professional and society publishers to create a presence on the World Wide Web, from their members and customers alike. This paper describes the planning that went into the establishment of CAB INTERNATIONAL’S Home Page, focusing on the strategic issues and detailed preparation rather than the physical tasks involved. Although it is technically straightforward to set up a Home Page, many publishers are faced with difficult decisions about how to use the features of the World Wide Web to best advantage and how to develop a real presence in terms of both promotion and publishing activities.