Hi Lesley

I totally agree with you - particularly when the ISSN is the same and the
title has changed it causes problems with the cataloguing of e-journals!
The examples quoted below, we still have separate records for the old and
new titles but with the same URL where the content is merged. Confusing for
our users if they are expecting the old title but we try to make sure they
know what is available. I think Synergy used to have separate records under
the old system (Health Libraries Review and its replacement Health
Information and Libraries Journal for example) but no cross-references
between them.

Perhaps all this is another example of publishers not really understanding
the needs of their customers!

Louise

Louise Cole BA ALA
Electronic Resources Co-ordinator
Brotherton Library
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT

tel 0113 343 5502
fax 0113 343 5561
e-mail [log in to unmask]


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lesley Crawshaw [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 02 April 2002 15:48
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Variations in the Way Publishers Deal with Title
> Changes/Mergers for Electronic Versions of Their Journals
>
>
> Hi,
>
> One of the many things I find frustrating/confusing when dealing with
> ejournals is title changes and mergers/incorporations. This
> is because there
> appears to be inconsistency amongst and even within
> publishers about how
> journals changing title, being incorporated within existing titles or
> merging with other titles to form new titles are detailed on
> publishers/aggregators sites.
>
> Sometimes the material from the old title is subsumed under
> the new title
> and sometimes it isn't, which means that the previous title sometimes
> disappears from the site altogether its content having been
> subsumed under
> its new title - this often seems to depend on whether a new
> ISSN has or not
> been associated with the new title. Is it a mistake that some
> journals have
> new ISSNs when the title changes or merges, but that others
> don't? I am no
> expert on what should happen with "new titles" but I believe
> that there
> should be two entries one for the old title and one for the
> new title with
> cross references between both. This is because if someone is
> looking for a
> reference to an article from the journal under its former title e.g.
> Australian Journal of Ecology you won't necessarily know or
> think to look
> under its new title, Austral Ecology for the content
> published at the time
> it had a different title. If a link takes a user to the "new
> title" because
> that is where the content of the former title is also located
> it can be
> confusing for the user - they may think that they have been
> taken to the
> wrong journal where the titles have significantly changed. It
> can also be
> hard to identify exactly when the journal changed its title.
>
> Here are are a couple of examples from two publishers, but if
> I had time I
> could find other examples from other publishers, so don't
> think that the
> problem is restricted to these two publishers - it isn't!:
>
> Blackwell Publishing
>
> Austral Ecology - changed title in 2000 from the Australian Journal of
> Ecology - if you go to the Synergy or ingenta site the former
> title is no
> longer listed even though the entry for Austral Ecology
> includes content
> from the previous title.
>
>
> Springer
>
> Comparative Hematology International changed its title to Comparative
> Clinical Pathology in 2002 - both titles share the same ISSN
> and the same
> URL i.e. http://link.springer.de/link/service/journals/00580/index.htm
>
>
> Clean Products and Processes merged with Environmental Engineering and
> Policy to form Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy in
> 2002 - Clean
> Products and Processes share the same ISSN as the new title, Clean
> Technologies and Environmental Policy, and is now longer
> listed, although
> the other titles with which it is merging still has its own home page.
>
>
> Have others been frustrated by this aspect of ejournal management?
>
> Cheers
> Lesley
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Lesley Crawshaw, Faculty Information Consultant
> Learning and Information Services,
> University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, AL10 9AB UK
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> phone: 01707 284662 fax: 01707 284666
> web: http://www.herts.ac.uk/lis/subjects/natsci/ejournal/
> list owner: [log in to unmask]
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>