LIBR 559L Scholarly Communications
Commercial Scholarly Publishing in an
Age of Transition
Martin Rose
June 14th, 2011
Where are we now?

A “Serials Crisis”

Academic library budgets are shrinking

Journal subscription prices keep rising


Four largest corporations – Elsevier, Springer, Wiley
and Taylor & Francis – dominate the market
Libraries locked into “Big Deals” for 3 to 5 years
(Morrision, 2009) and (Masterton, 2006)
Role of Bibliometrics



Bradford's Law 1930's
Eugene Garfield (Institute for Scientific Information)
SCI (Science Citation Index) 1950's
Peer Review (King makers)
(Guédon, 2001)
What about Open Access?



The current worldwide system of Scientific, Technical and
Medical (STM) publishing has evolved over hundreds of
years, and we believe it serves science and medical
communities well.
Open Access’ author-pays model risks penalising the
countries that produce the highest number of articles.
The Open Access business model in its current form has
not proven its financial viability.
(Elsevier, 2004)
Room for Negotiation
In 2008


Total revenue from STM journal publishing was $8
billion.
Forcasts predict a 3.7% increase per year so that
revenues should be around $13 billion in 2013
(Ware, 2009) and (Strempel, 2010)
In 2009


Elsevier’s operating profit margin was 34.9%
John Wiley & Sons reported 41% of the revenue in its
STMS division as a direct contribution to profit
(Strempel, 2010)

...and this was a year when the industry
experienced about 2% negative growth in
revenues (image: Google Finance Canada http://tinyurl.com/44xkscq)
A Pragmatic Approach
“While a compelling and legitimate case can be made for
restructuring the economics of scholarly publishing... such
a reformation frames the change in terms of philosophical
principles and political imperatives.
Income models, however, are indifferent business
mechanisms. Their market implications are driven by the
financial and mission motivations of the individual
publishers that implement them, not by the intrinsic nature
of the model itself.”
Raym Crow – SPARC Senior Consultant (Crow, 2009)
More than just money...




Top four largest publishers account for about 7000
journal titles.
Nearly 19,000 employees (not all working with
journals)
All four have a global presence with offices all over
the world including China, Southeast Asia and South
America
All are also investing heavily in enhancing the online
experience for researchers.


Elsevier saw over 65% of its journal impact factors
increase from 2008 to 2009
Elsevier journals took the #1 position in 57 of 230
categories (up from 51 of 229 the prior year) across all of
the sciences and social sciences
(Strempel, 2010)


They have over 1000 titles that achieved an impact
factor rating and nearly 25% of those are in the top 10
of their subject category.
36 titles achieved a number one ranking according to
Thomson ISI 2009 Journal Citation Reports.
(Strempel, 2010)
PEER
Publishing and the Ecology of European
Research (PEER)

Mandate is to research the effects of final
peer reviewed manuscripts being deposited
in OA Institutional Repositories

Program is funded by the EU (major funder for European
research)

Actively supported by several well known publishers
including Elsevier, Springer, Wiley-Blackwell and Taylor &
Francis

Source: http://www.peerproject.eu/
Are Attitudes Changing?



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“Wiley Open Access” launching in 2011
http://www.wileyopenaccess.com
Elsevier has allowed authors to self archive in their
open access institutional repository since July 2004.
Taylor & Francis offer a “Gold” OA scheme for 320 of
their journals.
Springer also offer a group of journals that offer
“Gold” OA under the name “SpringerOpen”
References
Crow, R. (2009). Income models for open access: An overview of current practice. Scholarly Publishing &
Academic Resources Coalition. Retrieved on 27th May, 2011 from
http://www.arl.org/sparc/publications/papers/imguide.shtml
Elsevier comments on possible implications of Open Access journals for the U.K. (2004, 17th February).
Elesvier.com. Retrieved 13th June, 2011 from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authored_newsitem.cws_home/companynews05_00077.
Guédon, J. (2001). In Oldenburg's Long Shadow: Librarians, Research Scientists, Publishers, and the Control of
Scientific Publishing. Washington, D.C: Association of Research Libraries.
Masterson, M. and Strempel, D., (2006). Open access: Market challenges and opportunities. Stamford, CT: Simba
Information.
Morrison, H. (2009). Scholarly communication for librarians. Chandos information professional series. Chandos
Pub.
Reed Elsevier (2010) Description of business. Retrieved 13th June, 2011 from
http://reports.reedelsevier.com/ar09/business/elsevier-description.html
Strempel, D. and Kilkelly, S., ed. (2010). Global professional publishing report 2009-2010. Stamford, CT: Simba
Information.
Wallace, J. and Armbruster, C. (2010) Annual Report – Year 2. Publishing and the Ecology of European Research
(PEER). Retrieved 13th June, 2011 from
http://www.peerproject.eu/fileadmin/media/reports/D9_8_annual_public_report_20100930.pdf.
Ware, M. and Mabe, M. (2009). The STM report: An overview of scientific and scholarly publishing. Oxford:
International Assocation of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers.