**Apologies for cross posting**
Society publishing: Problems Resulting from Journals Transferring Between Publishers.
Guidelines to Help Achieve a Successful Transition.
Each year significant numbers of journal titles are transferred to different publishers and often this is as a result of learned and professional societies making decisions to switch from one publishing partner to another, or to relinquish their in-house publishing arrangements. It is estimated that some 3400 scholarly and research titles have transferred between publishers since the beginning of 2009.
A frequent unintended consequence of these transfers however, is a range of practical problems for both libraries and scholars. These problems can include:
o Readers experiencing loss of access (temporary or fairly lengthy) to key society journal content, at the start of the new subscription year.
o Libraries facing new or different pricing models and unexpectedly high subscription price increases.
o Insufficient information being sent to librarians about the transfers, leaving librarians unclear about a number of issues, for example, the timing of the transfers, ongoing access arrangements, detailed information on titles that are covered.
o Uncertainty amongst librarians about arrangements for access to previous years of journal content, and their rights for perpetual access to years where subscriptions have been cancelled
In an attempt to reduce the problems, librarians and publishers have worked together in recent years to develop and implement the industry-wide TRANSFER Code of Practice (www.uksg.org/transfer<http://www.uksg.org/transfer>). This initiative has been successful in improving the situation, but problems still exist.
In order to provide further help in addressing the problem, JISC Collections, a key organisation in facilitating access to electronic information resources across UK universities and colleges, has now published a Guide for societies that outlines the nature of, and reasons for, the problems and suggests ways in which societies could help. This includes a checklist of key 'transfer' issues societies could consider using in their discussions with publishers when exploring new publishing partnerships.
The Guide is available at the JISC Collections website:
http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/jtransferpaper
Kind regards
Lorraine Estelle
Lorraine Estelle
CEO
JISC Collections
Brettenham House
5 Lancaster Place
London WC2E 7EN
+44 (0) 7973 779 303
lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials
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