Project Transfer: Findings from Surveys of Publishers and Librarians Undertaken in 2011

In May and June 2011, separate surveys were undertaken of scholarly journal publishers and academic librarians, designed to obtain a better understanding of the issues they face when journal titles move between publishers. In addition, the survey aimed to establish the extent to which both groups were aware of the Transfer Code of Practice and, if they were, whether its existence had helped improve the situation. This article summarizes the findings of these two surveys and describes the next steps in the development of the Code of Practice.     

Project Transfer comes of age?

The Transfer Code of Practice, first released in 2008, is a set of recommendations that establishes a baseline level of quality and performance in the event that a journal changes publisher. 2012 will see new developments from the Transfer Working Group, but there is still more work to be done to inform and educate all of the various constituencies involved in the journal transfer process.     

Evolution of the Transfer Code of Practice

The Transfer Code of Practice was launched in 2008 as a set of best‐practice guidelines to be followed when a journal changes publisher, with the aim of ensuring uninterrupted access to content for subscribers. The Code has now been updated to reflect the continued evolution of the academic publishing process driven by new technologies, policies, and publishing practices.     

数字出版时代科技期刊利用电子商务平台营销的构想

科技期刊出版业由传统的出版与经营管理转变为数字化出版,利用电子商务平台进行数字化、网络化营销已成为科技期刊的发展方向.认为:可开展基于科技期刊自建网站的电子商务营销;通过专业的电子商务平台开通科技期刊的旗舰营销店,实现科技期刊的多元化、多渠道的电子商务营销;通过手机付费平台进行科技期刊的网络化营销.科技期刊利用电子商务平台营销过程中需重视多方合作并加强管理,加强电子商务平台的内容建设及服务营销,加大培养电子商务专业化营销与管理人才的力度,不断扩大科技期刊的社会效益与经济效益.     

COUNTER: from conception to compliance

COUNTER was formally launched in March 2002. Within a year Release 1 of the COUNTER Code of Practice had been published, and a number of leading publishers were working towards making their usage reports COUNTER‐compliant. This article describes the background to COUNTER, the main features of the Code of Practice, the current status of its implementation and the next steps for the project. It also stresses the particular benefits to publishers of COUNTER compliance and of COUNTER membership.     

An Update from the TRANSFER Working Group

TRANSFER is an initiative of the UK Serials Group (UKSG) that seeks to address the issues that can arise when journals change publishers. The TRANSFER Code of Practice, first released in 2008, has made some important strides in improving the process by which journals transfer from one publisher to another. There is still much work to be done, and the TRANSFER Working Group is committed to continuing to develop and disseminate procedures and policies surrounding the transfer of journals between publishers so that the annual movement of journals causes less disruption for all parties involved.     

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.     

Piracy on the OA High Seas

Protecting intellectual property in all its variations is a serious international issue and challenge. While the theft of journal articles may not always be visible, there increasingly is evidence that it is occurring for both commercial publishers and open access publishers. The implications of massive downloading of journal content for unauthorized purposes will differentially impact the sustainability of the business model employed by the publisher. The resulting extremely serious implications, risks, and impacts are identified and considered in a high-hearted manner that contrasts with similar aspects previously encountered in managing unwanted journal donations.     

The significance of an impact factor: implications for the publishing community

The journal impact factor, as a metric developed in the mid‐1960s by Dr Eugene Garfield and Dr Irving Sher, represents the influence that an ‘average article’ published in a specific journal has on the scholarly discipline and audience that it serves. Originally intended to serve as an equalizer for use by the Institute for Scientific Information® (ISI®) in making comparative evaluations of large and small journals in a particular discipline, the impact factor now has numerous applications for publishers, librarians, and researchers. Ideally, the journal impact factor should be seen by publishers as a useful tool in gauging the effectiveness of their publication product in serving the needs of a particular scholarly community. The significance of a journal impact factor, its appropriate usage by the scholarly publishing community and its extension into the electronic environment are discussed.     

Delay between online and offline issue of journals: A critical analysis

Journals, which were earlier published in print-only version, are now published in both the online and print versions. It has been established that online versions, free or not, have greater impact over the print version. But there is a difference between the dates of publication of the online and print version of the same journal. This is called the delay measured in terms of days. The purpose of this study is to find the average time delay. For this, data for more than 200 journals of various subjects from different publishers have been manually acquired for publications during the first 6 months of year 2005. Further subject-wise investigation was made during the last month of the year 2005. The average delay is found to be nearly 3 months, but it varies for different publishers. Also, the issue of large deviation from the average delay – as noted in some journals – will be discussed here.     

Scholarly publishing and open access in the Nordic countries

This study examines aspects of scholarly journal publishing in the Nordic countries. On average half of Nordic journals publish online. In most Nordic countries, commercial publishers predominate; however, in Finland the majority are society publishers. The number of open access journals is low, in line with international figures. There is concern to maintain local languages in journal publishing. A majority of the journals publishing in local languages are within social science, humanities, and arts; the STM sector publishes in English. English‐language publications are favoured in research assessments, international recognition, and impact, while the visibility of local‐language scholarly journals in international databases is low. The Nordbib program supports Nordic scholarly journals and fosters co‐operation with publishing companies and learned societies over migration to e‐publishing; it also supports open access. The article discusses future challenges for journal publishing, pointing out the problems of small journal publishers and the need for co‐operation between stakeholders.     

Green and gold open access in India

This paper examines the characteristics of 462 open access (OA) journals being published in India under the green, gold and hybrid models. The sample of journals was selected from DOAJ, IndianJournal.com and Open J‐Gate. Journal characteristics were measured in terms of growth, subjects, publishers, and citations under each model. While characteristics such as growth, subject, and publisher have been identified by exploring the journal's website only, the citation count of these journals has been calculated by using Google Scholar and the Indian Citation Index. The gold road is now the most popular form of OA publishing in the subcontinent. There is a great variation in the size of OA journals and in their publishers. One publisher has more than 77 journals, but 264 publishers publish a single journal only. Overall, the OA journal landscape is greatly influenced by a few key publishers and journals. While 43% of journals charge publication fees and the fees vary from as low as US$10 to as high as US$400, the highest impact factor of the gold OA journals has been noted as 0.58. The data presented here suggest that publication fees are not a major barrier to authorship within the fields of computer science, pharmacy, and medicine.     

我国期刊优先数字出版中乱象的根源及对策

实行优先数字出版对于作者、读者、期刊出版方及国家科研发展都具有重要意义.我国实行优先数字出版的期刊越来越多,但与此同时出现了诸多乱象.对优先数字出版的认识不足、期刊出版方的管理制度不严、数据库的监管不严及行业标准的缺失是造成乱象的根源.期刊出版方在规范优先数字出版方面需要明确4 个要素: 概念、DOI 认证、版本的设置和优先出版文献的规范引用.此外,期刊出版方、数据库方和管理方应充分发挥自身力量推动优先数字出版有序、健康发展.     

Digitizing journal archives: the experience of Taylor & Francis

There are enormous quantities of information available to researchers on the Internet, of varying levels of quality. Now, more than ever, it is important that academic publishers make best use of their journals and provide their readers with access to this high‐value content, in a form that can be easily found and used. To that end, Taylor & Francis have taken up the challenge of satisfying researchers' need to have all relevant content available at their fingertips, by digitizing their older journal content, creating subject‐based collections of backfiles and putting them online. This article provides an insight into the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of the process of digitization of Taylor & Francis's journal archives. The fact that these online backfiles are being requested, purchased, and used demonstrates the added value that publishers may hold in their archives.     

Marketing institutional journal subscriptions to academic libraries

This paper examines different influences on the journal cancellation and selection policies of university libraries in the UK. Changing funding arrangements are outlined, followed by a discussion of varied criteria that are used during journal cancellation exercises, and how publishers can influence this process. The paper then considers changes consequent upon the advent of the electronic journal, and suggests that this, together with budget devolution and greater library liaison with academic staff, is increasing the influence of library staff in journal selection. As a result of these various trends, direct contacts between publishers and library staff are increasing.     

久有凌云志喜迎决胜年

在综述了我国新闻出版体制改革形势的基础上,联系科技期刊实际,指出科技期刊改革势在必行,提醒办刊人要认清形势,在改革的决胜年中积极主动地寻求适合自己所办期刊的改革与发展模式,攻坚克难,锐意进取,争当改革的弄潮儿。     

Market‐oriented reform in Chinese scholarly publishing

The Chinese government initiated a policy of 'corporatization of cultural entities' in 2003. Most Chinese book publishing houses were required to complete this transformation by 2006 and journal publishers by 2012. Chinese academic publishers, who no longer receive any general subsidies and allowances from government, have struggled to survive since then. During the reform process, many Chinese journals charged their authors page fees, and academic book publishers raised the prices of their publications. The continuing existence of other subsidies, however, means that there is still a degree of dependency in the Chinese system, and it will take time for its academic publishers to grow into real market players and to enhance their competitiveness.     

Effect of cooperation between Chinese scientific journals and international publishers on journals’ impact factor

Growing cooperation between Chinese journals and international publishers invites an investigation of the effect of this cooperation, based on an analysis of journal IF changes. Data from 23 Chinese academic journals were chosen from about 50 English-language academic journals indexed by SCI or SCIE and with a long history of cooperation. The data do not suggest that cooperation has improved the journals’ IF thus far. It appears that cooperation is generally limited to international distribution, and this has a weak influence on the quality of the journal and its IF, even though the papers can be accessed by worldwide users through publishers’ international distribution networks. Cooperation with international publishers is one step, but actively working on the quality of the journals is a more important step.