Dear colleagues and journal publishers,
Re: what would you consider to be an appropriate price for a
multi-user, full-text electronic journal?
Can anybody make a guess what IS appropriate??
I would say it is certainly NOT appropriate to pay shareholders large
benefits as a result and side-effect from scientific and medical
activities (research and communication) sponsored by government or the
public (tax, charity, donations etc.). And it is not appropriate that
access to the results of public funded research is behind a barrier of
very restrictive copyrights, that authors are more or less forced to
give away.
Scientific publishing should be an integral part of the non-commercial
(!!) scientific community with free-flow of information among all.
Therefor it is imperative that authors keep their rights to distribute
their findings (and articles). Only when authors themselves and/or their
institutions are responsible for distributing the new knowledge
findings, there will be a competition and market force for "repackaging"
information, which might result in lower prices.
Also it is imperative that editorial board members take their
responsibility and step down if and when their journal is no longer
"affordible" by the community they are suppossed to "serve". Editorial
Boards should be independent of their publisher and behave that way by
choosing the best (not too expensive) publisher.
Greetings form Amsterdam,
Suzanne Bakker
Central Cancer Library
The Netherlands Cancer Institute
This message represents my personal view, not my institution.
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Fraser wrote:
>
> Thanks very much for this, Judy. It's precisely for useful feedback such as
> this that I sent the original email, as of course it's imperative that we
> deliver what libraries want, rather than what we want them to want! All our
> journals will be available individually, both online and in print, so
> institutions that want to subscribe to just one or two or a handful can do
> so. Of course, the flip-side of this is that they will be paying the
> standard subscription rate, rather than the heavily discounted
> cost-per-title of the e-Bundle.
>
> Out of interest, what would you consider to be an appropriate price for a
> multi-user, full-text electronic journal?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Judy Taylor [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 26 October 2000 16:33
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Online journals
>
> I hate to sound as if I'm striking at the very root of your proposal
> and all that, but the way to make your electronic journals attractive
> to libraries is not, repeat *not*, to bundle them. The last thing
> libraries want is to be tied to an all-in deal at a price they can
> barely afford under which they are subsidising titles they don't want
> (often, titles that nobody very much wants). I think it would be fair
> to say that MCB's espousal of this pricing strategy has brought
> them a fair measure of unpopularity among their (now quite often
> ex-) customers: you might be wise to do a bit more market
> research on this one.
>
> Date sent: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 13:53:52 +0100
> Subject: Online journals
> From: Fraser <[log in to unmask]>
> To: "[log in to unmask]"
> <[log in to unmask]>
> Send reply to: [log in to unmask]
>
> > Hallo, I hope you can help. Henry Stewart Publications publishes a
> > range of quarterly journals, many of which are - or are soon to be -
> > available online. We will shortly be offering academic libraries
> > electronic access to an 'e-bundle' of approximately 15 management and
> > marketing journals, at a significantly reduced price-per-journal.
> > This will be not dissimilar to the Emerald service provided by MCB.
> >
> > In order for this venture to be a success, we need to be sure that we
> > are offering academic libraries precisely what they need, at as little
> > cost to them as possible. I would therefore welcome any suggestions as
> > to how we should structure this e-Bundle, in terms of delivery
> > (Internet access [IP addresses or passwords?], PDFs or HTML on CD-Rom
> > for intranet access?), pricing, and to whom we should be making our
> > offer (E-librarian? Head of Electronic Collections? Something else?)
> >
> > We believe that this e-Bundle will ultimately represent tremendous
> > value for money for our library subscribers who be able to provide
> > wider access to more content, more cost-effectively. I hope you'll be
> > able to help to ensure we are best place to deliver this, and hope to
> > hear from you.
> >
> > Information about our journals can be found at
> > http://www.henrystewart.co.uk/hspindex.html
> >
> > Kind regards
> >
> > Fraser Tant
> > Marketing Manager
> > Henry Stewart Publications
> > e: mailto:[log in to unmask]
> > t: +44 (0)20 7323 2916 x103
>
> Judy Taylor
> Assistant Librarian
> (Periodicals / Academic Liaison)
> DUNDEE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
> DUNDEE DD1 4HN
> tel: extn 5184, external dial 01382-345184
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