NS31.2 READMORE PRICING PREDICTIONS FOR 1993
NS31.3 INTERPERIODICA ASSUMES PUBLICATION OF RUSSIAN SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS, Press Release
Kimberly Parker, Yale Geology Library, kimberly_parker@yccatsmtp.ycc.yale.edu.
I have had another of my faculty members at Yale, this time in the Geology and Geophysics Department, inform me of steps he has taken regarding a geology journal. For background, Yale's Geology Library cancelled the Gordon and Breach title _Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics_ after several years of exorbitant prices and price increases. The faculty of the department agreed to cancel the journal after I provided them with the price information *despite the fact that several of them used the journal*.
One of these faculty members, Professor George Veronis, was recently asked by the current editor of GAFD if he would be interested in taking over its editorship, and his reply stating his reasons for declining started a correspondence regarding journal pricing and where that can lead.
I am enclosing the text of the most pertinent letter, which Professor Veronis has granted me permission to quote.
----------
March 5, 1992 Dr. Andrew Soward _Geophysical & Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics_ Department of Mathematics & Statistics THE UNIVERSITY Newcastle-upon Tyne, NE1 7RU United Kingdom Dear Andrew: I got carried away by a campaign against publishers who have interfered with scientific communication by charging exorbitant subscription rates to libraries. They not only undermine the financial stability of libraries but they also interrupt the flow of information by making their own journals (and the contents) relatively inaccessible. Gordon and Breach are perhaps the worst offenders....The main problem heard grumbling about irregularity in delivery. A number of universities have dropped GAFD [_Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics_] and increasingly more will do so after the most recent raise in rates. Although I think that both GFD [_Geophysical Fluid Dynamics_] and GAFD provided a channel for communicating results in my own area of interest, neither achieved a level of importance that made them indispensable. There are other journals with orientations toward specific disciplines that publish papers in [geophysical fluid dynamics]. The situation has become so serious that it will be extremely difficult to arrive at a satisfactory solution. If Gordon and Breach were to drop the subscription rate by a factor of _ten_, they might get back some (but not all) of their ex-subscribers. But that drop is highly unlikely. In the meantime a lot of people who might have submitted their manuscripts to GAFD will realize that many of their colleagues will not have access to that journal and they will submit elsewhere. I think that the only reason that GAFD gets as many manuscripts as it currently does is that it has no page charge. Some people don't look beyond that but even they will have to take notice when they realize that not many people see the journal. Even you write that you are not optimistic that letters like mine will have an effect on the publisher. So I just see a long tailspin before the crash. My feeling is that it would be better to bring that about quickly so that our colleagues are not lured into sending their manuscripts to a destination without an outlet. And I think that it's high time that the journal-publishing industry be confronted with a warning that there is a limit to what will be tolerated. It is unfortunate that innocent people will be affected but that will be only a temporary disruption. Yours sincerely, ----------What I also found interesting was that Dr. Soward indicated to Professor Veronis that he had been hearing similar concerns from others, and that this prompted him to send Gordon and Breach the text of the correspondence.
I don't know if this will change G&B's mind, but it seems to me that they need to think about some of the points made in this letter.
NS31.2 READMORE PRICING PREDICTIONS FOR 1993
Statement sent to customers.
Since many librarians are considering their 1993 budgets, we have contacted a large portion of the domestic and foreign publishers as well as incorporating advice from NY based foreign currency traders. After analyzing the information, we are making our preliminary 1993 predictions.
Projecting one average price increase is misleading, as our analysis indicates that there are many differences in buying patterns based upon the various types of institutions. Because of this we are using a different approach for our projections for 1993 price increases. We are going to predict the increases for different library groups.
Medical School 13.8%
Hospital 11.0%
Academic 12.5%
Corporate Business 9.5%
Corporate Research/Development 13.5%
Since we understand that this pricing information is necessary to you in your budget-setting process, we are making our predictions for 1993 at this time even though few publishers are in any position to make firm decisions as to their 1993 prices. In addition, as a result of new technology in publishing, articles are submitted later than in the past and publishers have difficulty in determining page and volume increases for 1993.
Based on the data that we have, however, we project a 7% increase in prices as a result of inflation and increased pagination.
With regard to the British and European titles, since the prices and exchange rates were set for 1992, the dollar has eroded approximately 10%. If the publishers were to set their prices for 1993 at this time, this would mandate an increase of 10% as a result of this erosion in the value of the dollar. Foreign currency experts differ as to the future of the dollar and, as a result, it is impossible to predict with any degree of certainty, the value of the dollar at the time the publishers' prices are set, in July or August.
This year there is another element involved in determining the price increases for 1993. As a result of heavy cancellations for 1992, it is expected that many publishers will suffer heavy unit decreases in their sales. Consequently, we expect that they will increase prices, over and above inflation, to compensate for these losses. We anticipate an increase of approximately 1-2% as a result of this reduction in units.
NS31.3 INTERPERIODICA ASSUMES PUBLICATION OF RUSSIAN SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS
Press release. Contact: Monica Graves
INTERPERIODICA
Editorial Office: Krasikova Street, 32, Moscow, 117418, Russia
Subscription Office: P.O. Box 1831, Birmingham, AL 35210, USA
The rapidly-improving communication between Russian and English-speaking
scientists was dramatically illustrated earlier this year when the Russian
Academy of Sciences in Moscow and New York City based Pleiades Publishing,
Inc., announced the formation of a publishing partnership, INTERPERIODICA.
Formed expressly to eliminate the one-to-two year wait for English publication of Russian scientific research, INTERPERIODICA will translate, publish, and distribute select Academy journals simultaneous to the publication of their Russian-language counterparts -- making Soviet information, research, and discoveries accessible when they are most relevant.
Starting in January 1992, INTERPERIODICA has assumed the English-language publication for the 1992 Russian editions of the following titles:
POLYMER SCIENCE, Vol. 34 (ISSN: 0965-545X)
THE PHYSICS OF METALS AND METALLOGRAPHY, Vols. 73 and 74 (ISSN: 0031-918X)
SOVIET JOURNAL OF GLASS PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY, Vol. 18 (ISSN: 0360-5043)
HERALD OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, Vol. 62 (ISSN: Pending)
LASER PHYSICS, Vol. 2 (ISSN: 1054-660X)
PATTERN RECOGNITION AND IMAGE ANALYSIS, Vol. 2 (ISSN: 1054-6618)
SOVIET ARCHIVES OF INTERNAL MEDICINE, Vol. 64 (ISSN: 1054-6596)
STUDIES ON SOVIET ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, Vol. 3 (ISSN: 1054-6588)
INTERPERIODICA will add more Academy titles to its roster in 1993.
Faster translation on site in Moscow and immediate printing means INTERPERIODICA will publish the 1992 volumes of these journals _in 1992_ -- at the same time some of the former publishers are still producing the preceding volumes from 1991. The result will be a "double-volume" year for subscribers.
In addition to more timely publication, readers will benefit from more precise translations of each journal, provided by a carefully chosen team of scientific translators who have direct access to the authors and editors.
"Our goal," says Pleiades President Alexander Shustorovich, also Deputy Chairman of INTERPERIODICA, "is to provide continuity on an accelerated basis. We will improve the turn-around time, increase the accuracy, and enhance customer service. We want our library and corporate subscribers to know these are the same publications they have valued for years -- only better."
For customer service and general inquiries regarding INTERPERIODICA or any of its journals, contact Monica Graves at 1-800-633-4931.
The mailbox is: TUTTLE@UNC.BITNET or Marcia_Tuttle@unc.edu.
>From Jim Campbell, University of Virginia, jmc@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU:
That report on UKSG is one of the best discussions I've seen or heard on electronic publishing. Thanks for making it available to us troops.
A minor footnote to the audience comment on your talk. Someone in the audience mentioned that Modern Language Assoc. is going to index electronic journals. They do now, but in a funny way. Your neighbor from NC State, John Unsworth, was asked at the ARL electronic publishing conference about his circulation. He replied that it's so many electronic copies and one paper copy, which goes to the MLA. They won't touch a machine readable version, but if the editor gives them paper, they'll include the title.
We live in an age of transition.
Why do I keep thinking of the Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times" ?
>From Michael Boswood, Pergamon Press, Oxford, United Kingdom, FAX: +44 (865) 743947:
I welcome Don Koepp's note in No 25. It confirms that Princeton's cost increase in 1992 was far higher than Pergamon's price increase. Over 40% of Princeton's subscriptions were renewed in 1990 on a two-year basis. Almost all 130 subscriptions were direct with Pergamon.
Two-year rates save libraries money, but will Pergamon be criticized by others who take advantage of them after the savings have been realized?
We are reviewing our pricing policies for 1993 so please let me know.
>From Michael Boswood:
Aqueduct Action Agenda: Item #4 is misleading because it attributes Donald Koepp's cancellation of some Pergamon Press journals to high _price_ increases. In fact Mr Koepp cancelled the journals because of _cost_ increases specific to Princeton, which had a large number of two-year subscriptions ending in 1991. He confirmed this in NS 25 of your newsletter. A correction was also printed in _ARL_ after a similarly misleading reference to Pergamon's price increases based on the Princeton correspondence (_ARL_ No 161, March 1992).
The distinction between price and cost is important, because of the way Princeton accounted for two-year subscriptions. More than two-thirds of the 1992 cost increase as calculated by Princeton was due to two-year subscriptions. No account was taken of the savings realized in the period 1990-91 as a result of the two-year subscriptions.
The Aqueduct Agenda is an attempt to identify issues of generic importance, of which pricing is obviously one. The inclusion of specific references to Pergamon Press and Princeton University is inappropriate for the reasons given above.
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