Terry, et al,

The member list contains the postcode for all the members in the UK (Great
Britain) so would it be possible for an inter-University organisation like
SCONUL to send a letter to all those on the list pointing out this
situation. It does seem counter to the proclaimed aims of EMBO.

Regards,

John Smith,
The Templeman Library,
University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.


On Thu, 6 Nov 2003, Terry Bucknell wrote:

> Bernd-Christoph et al,
>
> Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We have just been quoted £2,290
> + VAT for both journals. Last year we paid £875 just for EMBO Journal.
>
> We told NPG that we didn't want EMBO Reports too (we have never subscribed
> to it), but NPG say that EMBO have decided that the two journals are so
> complementary that we should have both. Funny, I thought that should be our
> decision.
>
> You can search the EMBO membership directory at:
>
> http://www.embo.org/organisation/memberSearch.php
>
> PLEASE take the time to find out if there are any EMBO members in your
> institution, and if there are please draw their attention to this issue. Is
> EMBO "Promoting biosciences in Europe" by making its journals unaffordable?
>
>
> Terry Bucknell
> Electronic Resources Manager
> Harold Cohen Library
> University of Liverpool
> PO Box 123 Liverpool L69 3DA
>
> Tel: +44 (0)151 794 5408  Fax: +44 (0)151 794 5417
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
> --On 05 November 2003 13:13 +0100 [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> > [Distributed via lis-e-journals and liblicense-l, please excuse
> > duplicate posting]
> >
> > Dear list members,=20
> >
> > In 2004, EMBO Journal will be transferred from Oxford University Press=20
> > to Nature Publishing Group, joining its sister publication EMBO reports
> > which was transferred in 2003, cf. Nature Publishing Group's press=20
> > release of August 2003,=20
> >
> > http://www.nature.com/embojournal/EMBO_press.pdf
> >
> > Several new services like Advance Online Publication will also be
> > introduced, cf. http://www.nature.com/embojournal/aims_scope.html
> >
> > Dual platform hosting - both on HighWire and nature.com - is a welcome
> > feature maximising the services and the choices available to the
> > community.=20
> >
> >> From 2004 on, a subscription to EMBO journal (24 issues/year) will by
> > default include 12 issues of EMBO reports. While EMBO members will
> > actually see no price increase or even a price reduction for the=20
> > combined product (2004 price: GBP 160 for Print+Online, GBP 90 for=20
> > Online only), institutions and their libraries will see a price increase
> > between=20
> >
> >         30% and 220%
> >
> > depending on the institution's size (as measured by FTE for all science
> > faculties excluding Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science). The
> > typical increase for institutions around +/- 5000 Sciences FTE will be
> > 110% or 140%. (Prices for Online only are 10% less than prices for
> > Print+Online, if I got correct information from NPG.)
> >
> > Bundling EMBO reports with the highly cited EMBO journal, of course, is=20
> > a classical way to increase the profitability. In fact, there were many
> > subscribers of EMBO journal which did not consider EMBO Reports to be=20
> > an absolute "must". So in fact many of us will see an even higher price
> > increase of 80% to 340%.
> >
> > What I find disturbing here is that no one at EMBO or NPG seems to find
> > it necessary to write a letter to subscribers explaining those price
> > increases. Is there any justification for such excessive price
> > increases=20 other than the assumption that the market will bear it? My
> > belief is=20 that the moving force behind the price increase is EMBO as
> > much as the publisher. While some societies actually exert a restraining
> > influence=20 on publisher's pricing policies, it is well known that other
> > societies=20 are driving library prices up as a result of competitive
> > negotiations=20 with publishers.=20
> >
> > I fear that underfinanced central libraries of universities with
> > two-tiered library systems will be increasingly forced or tempted to=20
> > leave it to departments or institutes to buy EMBO publications=20
> > themselves if they get so expensive. Many already do, but the existing
> > institute's subscriptions often are based on a membership or will be
> > converted to such given this price increase. Of course, this is not an
> > optimal solution as more print issues will get distributed than=20
> > necessary and there will be no possibility to get a site license.=20
> >
> > Hopefully, more and more EMBO authors will self-archive their=20
> > publications on institutional servers in order to bridge the 12 months=20
> > gap between publishing date and free availability at the publishers
> > website or discipline-based repositories like E-BioSci or Pubmed
> > Central=20 so that articles become openly accessible to as many
> > scientists and as early as possible.=20
> >
> > Several other questions come to mind:=20
> >
> > 1. What will happen to the free back issues policy readers of both=20
> > journals enjoyed at the HighWire site (EMBO Journals: free 12 months=20
> > after publication, EMBO Reports: free after 1 year every January)?=20
> > Hopefully this policy will be maintained as it has been decided to
> > establish dual platform hosting for both journals.
> >
> > 2. Will EMBO Journal continue to be included in Pubmed Central as a PMC
> > PubLink Journal, an option that requires full submission of published
> > material to PMC, but allows redirects for actual viewing of full-text=20
> > to the publisher's site? PMC Policies and Guidelines also require that
> > primary research articles must be made available with open access=20
> > within one year from publication date. (Note that the PMC National
> > Advisory Committee has recently suggested to eliminate the PubLink=20
> > option for new participating publishers, returning to the original PMC
> > model. Current PubLink journals will be asked to consider allowing all
> > content to be viewable within PMC, cf. the Minutes of the June 25, 2003
> > meeting.
> >
> > 3. In which form will content of EMBO publications become available to
> > scientists on the future E-BioSci platform? What about open access=20
> > policy at this site?
> >
> > 4. As open access is an article property (cf. the Bethesda Principles),
> > will authors of EMBO journal be offered the choice to pay for open=20
> > access to their article (through their funding bodies)?
> >
> > Bernd-Christoph Kaemper, Stuttgart University Library
> >
> > --
> > Bernd-Christoph Kaemper, Dipl.-Physiker, Bibl.-Rat Fachreferent f=FCr=20
> > Physik und Koordination elektronischer Ressourcen=20
> > Universit=E4tsbibliothek Stuttgart, Postfach 104941, 70043 Stuttgart=20
> > Tel +49 711 685-4780, Fax +49 711 685-3502, [log in to unmask]
>