THE BUSINESS OF JOURNAL PUBLISHING

Transcription

1 THE BUSINESS OF JOURNAL PUBLISHING The management, economics and electronic hosting of scholarly journals Presented by: Michael A Mabe Chief Executive Officer, STM

2 What is stm? International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers ~ 100 members, both for-profit and not-for profit, large and small. Members publish 60% of all papers globally and include: BMJ, ACS, AMA as well as Elsevier, Springer, Wiley Secretariat in London, UK Objectives: to assist STM publishers and their authors in disseminating research to assist national and international organisations to improve electronic dissemination, storage and retrieval to work with the International Publishers Association (IPA) and with the national publishers associations and other bodies

3 Publishing and Publishers A. J. Ayer (Philosopher): "If I had been someone not very clever, I would have done an easier job like publishing. That's the easiest job I can think of. Cyril Connolly (Writer): As repressed sadists are supposed to become policemen or butchers, so those with an irrational fear of life become publishers.

4 First Journals: 1665 Henry Oldenburg

5 Journal Growth Journal growth No of titles launched and still extant Data from Ulrich s International Periodicals Directory on CD-ROM Summer 2001 Edition Total number of active refereed learned journals in 2006: 21,000 cagr 3.46% R 2 = Year

6 Main Cause of Journal Growth 1.6 R&D Workers, Journals and Articles Index (1981=1.00) 1.2 US r&d workers journals articles 0.8 More researchers more journals Year

7 Starting New Journals Proposals come from scholars Only 1 in 20 lead to a new title Key questions a publisher asks is there an identifiable critical mass of authors? is there an adequate journal already? are the authors concentrated in a new area or scattered among several old ones? who will be the readership?

8 Reasons for Saying No Too few papers will be submitted Area is not a real sociological grouping of researchers Area is too young or too diffuse Existing titles already satisfy authors needs Readership is too interdisciplinary to influence institutional buying decisions Growth of new area too slow to be viable Financial benefits low compared to risks

9 New Journal Breakeven Time surplus 3 years 0 time loss Cumulative investment: ~ 200,000

10 Setting Up An Editorial Office First, find your Editor! Researcher working in the field Recognised authority with administrative flair Setting up an editorial office agree scope of journal and nature of support find location and negotiate lease supply equipment, material and staff help create referee database Support costs: typically 10-15% of income paid directly by the publisher

11 Establish The Editorial Board With Editor(s), identify key members of research community served by the journal the academic Great and the Good Persuade them of the virtue of the title Get them to submit some papers for the inaugural issue, or encourage other good authors to submit and/or review

12 Actions to Launch Send out a call for papers Decide on cover design etc. with Editor(s) When enough papers received, assemble inaugural issue Promote existence to libraries and potential readers direct mail campaigns free sample issues at conferences Launch and monitor paper flow and subscriptions

13 Publishing Cycle accepted mss PUBLISHER finalized journal issues proofing author AGENT JOURNAL Editorial Office submission editor peer review process LIBRARY reader research community referee

14 Publishing Cycle: Acquiring Content accepted mss PUBLISHER finalized journal issues proofing author AGENT JOURNAL Editorial Office submission editor peer review process LIBRARY reader research community referee

15 What Does The Journal Editor Do? Public face of the journal Decides on what gets published type and standard of paper Sets editorial policies with editorial board & publishers editor Runs the peer review process supported by an editorial office funded by the publisher

16 Peer Review A methodological check soundness of argument supporting data and cited references Done by two anonymous academics ( the reviewers ) Reviewers peer review without payment costs of administering the selection of reviewers, postage and document costs are borne by the journal On average 30% more papers are reviewed than published

17 What Does The Publisher Do? Editorial management monitor editorial office efficiency and efficacy time for reviews, responsiveness to authors monitor key success indicators copyflow, subscription levels, quality indicators, author satisfaction monitor research trends include where relevant:special issues, invited papers, conference issues take action does journal need to expand? does editor need replacing?

18 What Does The Publisher Do? Business management pay editors fees and expenses control costs and set financial goals review subscription development review production costs and set page budgets set guide price close a failing journal

19 Publishing Cycle: Manufacturing accepted mss PUBLISHER finalized journal issues proofing author AGENT JOURNAL Editorial Office submission editor peer review process LIBRARY reader research community referee

20 Manufacturing The Journal Production work flow management file conversion, typesetting and editing supplier management Electronic hosting secure online host, 24/7/365 scalable access and entitlements disaster recovery

21 Publishing Cycle: Promotion & Sales accepted mss PUBLISHER finalized journal issues proofing author AGENT JOURNAL Editorial Office submission editor peer review process LIBRARY reader research community referee

22 Promotion, Distribution and Sales Promotion and marketing Direct mail and web brochures and leaflets Exhibitions and advertising Information on products and prices in general

23 Promotion, Distribution and Sales Sales Account managers seek prospects Licence deals agreed with individual libraries and consortia After sales service and customer support Distribution and fulfilment Access and entitlements Electronic and paper Invoicing and cash collection Monitoring of claims

24 Magazines versus Journals Content types and business models classifieds Archival papers Short papers Review papers Book reviews News, views, commentary Letters Editorial advertising ads Journalistic/unrefereed Submitted/refereed ads

25 Magazines versus Journals New Scientist, Scientific American New Scientist, Scientific American Magazine model: personal sale to individuals, very high circulation, very high advertising revenue classifieds Book reviews News, views, commentary Letters Editorial advertising ads Journalistic/unrefereed ads

26 Magazines versus Journals Nature, Science, BMJ, Lancet etc. Nature, Science, BMJ, Lancet etc. Hybrid magazine/research journal model: personal sales predominate, high circulation, high advertising income classifieds Archival papers Short papers Review papers Book reviews News, views, commentary Letters Editorial advertising ads Journalistic/unrefereed Submitted/refereed ads

27 Magazines versus Journals Archival Research Journals Archival Research Journals Research journal model: institutional sales, low circulation, no advertising Archival papers Short papers Review papers Submitted/refereed

28 Economics of Journal Publishing Magazines Hybrid Magazine/ Journals Research Journals Sold to Individuals Individuals and institutions Institutions Circulation 100,000s 10,000s 100s-1,000s Advertising Income Very high High Non existent Price Low Low High Fixed costs Low Medium High Variable costs High Low Small

29 Economics of Journal Publishing Each research area has its institutional market limited number of institutions that support it Sales rarely exceed the size of the institutional market high prices put buyers off, but very low ones will not attract customers to buy more More general subject = larger institutional market hence higher potential sales High sales mean lower price, lower sales higher price Because per article costs roughly same journal to journal Specialized titles will always be more costly per article than general ones: the market is smaller

30 Web = Publishing for Free? Web is a distribution medium Publishing costs are made up of two components: cost to create the first copy (85-90%) Origination or first copy cost cost to duplicate and distribute (10-15%) On the web Copying and distribution become virtually zero but authentication, licensing and management become more complex

31 First Copy Costs Estimated by Odlyzko and Tenopir & King at an average of $4000 per article Survey by John Cox Associates: $3500 OSI Guide to OA journals: $3750 Has several components peer review management costs for ALL submissions Editor, expenses, editorial office cost production costs technology: e hosting publishing costs: brand identity management organization costs: management and overheads Users want the functions: first copy cost have to come from somewhere

32 Alternative Business Models Any alternative must raise $4000 per paper to be self-sustaining Payment options 1. Authors pay (page charges) 2. Authors institutions pay 3. Authors granting bodies pay 4. Readers pay 5. Readers agents (library) pay 6. National authorities pay (eg, NESLI) Tolls and tariffs 1. Advertising 2. Telecommunication access charges

33 Electronic Publishing Requires reliability and customer service ScienceDirect 1,798 journals (1,947 if archive of discontinued merged etc. titles included) 6 m full text article, 60 m abstracts 180 m full article downloads by users in 2003, rising from 86m in 2002 Estimated 5.5 m users at more than 4,000 institutions worldwide Not something you do in your toolshed!

34 Storage 90 Terabytes of Data Storage 1.2 Petabytes of Tape Storage

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37 Platform Reliability Platform Availability 100% 95% 90% Aug-00 Nov-00 Feb-01 May-01 Aug-01 Nov-01 Feb-02