ISSN: 1046-3410 NEWSLETTER ON SERIALS PRICING ISSUES NO 242 -- February 1, 2000 Editor: Marcia Tuttle CONTENTS 242.1 _JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR STRUCTURE_, Cindy Hepfer 242.2 _LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY_ SUBSCRIPTION RATE 2000, Press Release 242.3 CURL ENDORSES ACTION BY DUTCH LIBRARIANS, Chris Bailey 242.4 ALPSP MODEL GRANT OF LICENCE FORM FOR JOURNAL ARTICLES, Sally Morris242.1 _JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR STRUCTURE_
[Received December 3, 1999]
I read NOSPI no. 239 with great interest. Although they can engender some hard feelings, exchanges between librarians and faculty editors offer an excellent educational opportunity for both constituencies -- those who write for and use expensive journals, and those who select and acquire the titles and make them available for use. I sincerely appreciate the time and effort that Dr. Laane and Dr. Barnes put into their responses and thank everyone involved for the information.
There are two questions I'd still like to have answered!
1) Given the information that the librarians who signed the letter now have about the publication, will they continue to consider _Journal of Molecular Structure_ for cancellation?
2) How many libraries in underdeveloped countries that cannot afford access to bibliographic databases subscribe to highly specialized $10,000-a-year titles?
242.2 _LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY_ SUBSCRIPTION RATE 2000
Press Release submitted by Everett Fee, Editor-in-Chief and Tom
Malone, President of ASLO, malone@hpl.umces.edu
[Received December 9, 1999]
Effective 1 January, 2000, the subscription rate for the _Limnology and Oceanography_ (L&O), the official publication of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), will increase from $175 per year to $350 per year. The ASLO Board realizes that it is important to place this price increase in context and explain the factors that made it necessary.
L&O is an internationally acclaimed journal with very high editorial standards: in the last two years only 35% of all submitted manuscripts were accepted. The last complete volume (1999) included 232 papers and 2025 pages. This makes L&O an extremely valuable research tool and a key journal to anyone involved in the aquatic sciences (it is the most frequently cited journal in both limnology and oceanography (ISI _Journal Citation Index_)).
The table below compares L&O's new library subscription price with other major "aquatics" journals for the year 2000 (in a few cases only 1996 library fees were available; year 2000 costs are probably higher):
$ 350 Limnology and Oceanography $ 425 Ecology $ 520 Journal of Plankton Research $ 540 Internationale Revue der Gesamten Hydrobiologie (1996) $ 630 Canadian Journal of Fisheries & Aquatic Science $1008 Archiv fu¸r Hydrobiologie (1996) $1565 Marine Chemistry $1676 Journal of Marine Systems $1696 Freshwater Biology $2796 Deep Sea Research $3280 Journal of Experimental Marine Biology & Ecology $3486 Water Research $3737 Marine Biology $4053 Marine Ecology Progress Series (1996) $6100 Hydrobiologia (1996)
L&O's new library subscription fee remains a bargain relative to other journals of its publication size and status. Further, library subscriptions for the year 2000 include the L&O CD-ROM, which will contain the complete Volumes 1 (1956) through Volume 43 (1998). Library subscribers will receive this CD-ROM supplement FREE, plus eight printed issues. The L&O CD-ROM will allow instant access to all past issues including the ability to easily search for topics or names. It is important to note that this CD-ROM (normally priced at $150) will be supplied FREE only to libraries that subscribe to the L&O in 2000 (i.e., this is a one-time offer).
The increase in subscription fees was made necessary both by increased production costs since 1995, when L&O library subscription fees were last increased, and by a decision that the ASLO Board made in mid-1998 to solidify the journal's status as a major journal in the aquatic sciences. These include re-staffing the Editorial Office; moving the Office from Seattle to Canmore, Alberta; and equipping it with state- of-the-art equipment. At the same time, new copy editing procedures were instituted. Together these changes have resulted in significant improvements. All issues of L&O are now mailed on or before the scheduled mailing date (the 25th day of the nominal cover date); the average issue size has increased; and the time from manuscript submission to when authors receive the all-important first decision letter has declined dramatically. L&O has also moved aggressively onto the Web. A new service notifies subscribers by E-mail when a new table of contents is posted (about 6 weeks before the issue is mailed), and an outstanding or controversial paper from each issue is "featured" on the Web by posting its Adobe page-image (pdf) file on the Web about 2 weeks before the issue is mailed. "Featured" papers are also the subject of a Web-based discussion forum where subscribers discuss the paper's significance. Finally, and arguably most importantly, during the past year and a half the number of Associate Editors was increased from 14 to 25, adding world-class expertise in the fields of marine bio-optics, coral ecology, stable isotope geochemistry, ecological effects of UV radiation, stream ecology, effects of contaminants, and wetlands. For more information, visit the L&O Website <http://www.aslo.org/lo>.
If you have any questions about your L&O subscription or the new L&O CD-ROM, please contact the ASLO Business Office by phone at (800) 929- ASLO or (254) 399-9635, by fax at (254) 776-3767 or by E-mail at business@aslo.org
242.3 CURL ENDORSES ACTION BY DUTCH LIBRARIANS
Chris Bailey, Executive Secretary, CURL, c.a.bailey@lib.gla.ac.uk
[Received December 14, 1999. UKB includes all university libraries, the Royal Library, and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. (from Azim Koning, University of Amsterdam.)]
The UKB consortium in the Netherlands, which comprises academic libraries have recently issued a policy statement on the pricing of academic journals.
This highlights the ongoing problems faced by librarians in meeting unreasonable price increases for academic journals and suggests that solutions must be sought at national or even international level. A five-point action plan is laid out which includes:
… Giving member libraries information on the reasonableness of particular price increases … Getting endorsement from fellow organisations internationally … Maximising publicity for any action … Educating academics about their policies and seeking their help … Promoting dialogue with publishers
UKB has invited other libraries to publicly support this initiative.
CURL (the Consortium of University Research Libraries) represents the libraries of the universities of Birmingham, Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, King's College London, London (Senate House), Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Imperial College London, London School of Economics, Sheffield, Southampton, University College London, Warwick, and Trinity College Dublin. In addition, the British Library, the national libraries of Scotland and Wales, and the Wellcome Institute are in associate membership, and SAS (School of Advanced Study) belongs as a co-operating member. It thus includes within its membership the national legal deposit libraries and the libraries of the major research led universities, whose collections are fundamental to the continuing strength of UK academic research.
The problems of spiraling inflation for scholarly journals, accelerated by the demand for and costs of electronic access, are now a matter of critical concern to the members of CURL, who represent some of the largest customers for scholarly publications in the UK. Many of the demands which have traditionally been made by publishers in terms of cancellation clauses, subscription increases well above national inflation rates and the rise in library budgets, are no longer sustainable.
Given that the present environment for scholarly communication is volatile and challenging, CURL feels that there are significant advantages to be gained by publishers and libraries collaborating on the investigation of alternative paradigms particularly within the context of electronic commerce and pricing strategies.
CURL fully endorses the initiative of UKB and will be actively considering its own contributions to this endeavour.
CURL will be publicising its efforts in this area and will be maintaining close contact with its sister organisations nationally and internationally in order to share information.
242.4 ALPSP MODEL GRANT OF LICENCE FORM FOR JOURNAL ARTICLES
Sally Morris, Secretary General ALPSP, sec-gen@alpsp.org.uk
[Received December 21, 1999]
After considerable helpful discussion with members of its Copyright Committee and others, ALPSP (the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers) has come up with a model 'Grant of Licence' form for journal articles, for use in cases where the publishers do not feel they have to acquire copyright, but nevertheless want to secure their rights as far as is reasonable.
We believe that this may be a step forward in establishing the most author-friendly possible policies (the need for which was clearly highlighted by our research study, What Authors Want) and we hope that others will feel free to use it as a source document for their own journals (the bits in square brackets are intended to be optional; in particular, it is unclear whether or not Moral Rights apply in the UK, but the lawyers among us have suggested that it may be safer to include it explicitly). We shall be adopting it for ALPSP's own journal, Learned Publishing.
I should also be very interested in any comments on the document. Please do also feel free to let others know about it, point to it on our website (www.alpsp.org.uk) or whatever!
Licence to Publish
In order to publish your article we need your agreement in writing. Please take a moment to read the terms of this licence, sign the form and return it to us as quickly as possible.
Name of Journal
Title of Article
Name(s) of Author(s)
Name of Copyright Owner, if not author(s)
Address of above (if applicable)
By signing this form, you (the author(s) or other copyright owner) agree to grant to us (the publisher) the exclusive right both to reproduce and/or distribute your article (including the abstract) ourselves throughout the world in printed, electronic or any other medium, and in turn to authorize others (including Reproduction Rights Organisations such as the Copyright Licensing Agency and the Copyright Clearance Center) to do the same. You agree that we may publish your article in the journal named above, and that we may sell or distribute it within the journal, on its own, or with other related material.
You promise that the article is your original work, has not previously been published, and is not currently under consideration by another journal. If it contains material which is someone else's copyright, you promise that you have obtained the unrestricted permission of the copyright owner (please attach evidence of this) and that the material is clearly identified and acknowledged within the text. You also promise that the article does not, to the best of your knowledge, contain anything which is libellous, illegal, or infringes anyone's copyright or other rights.
[You assert your Moral Right to be identified as the author, and w]We promise that we will respect your rights as the author(s). That is, we will make sure that your name(s) is/are always clearly associated with the article and, while you do allow us to make necessary editorial changes, we will not make any substantial alteration to your article without consulting you. [We will have your article fairly reviewed by [at least two] impartial referees, and will let you know the outcome as quickly as possible.] When the article is accepted, we undertake to publish it as soon as we reasonably can. If it is rejected, this agreement is automatically cancelled and all the rights come back to you. On publication, we will send you [.. free offprints][a free copy]. We will do everything we reasonably can to maximise the visibility of the journal, and of your article within it.
Copyright remains yours, and we will acknowledge this in the copyright line which appears on your article. However, you authorise us to act on your behalf to defend your copyright if anyone should infringe it, and to retain half of any damages awarded, after deducting our costs. You also retain the right to use your own article (provided you acknowledge the published original in standard bibliographic citation form) as follows, as long as you do not sell it [or give it away] in ways which would conflict directly with our commercial business interests: for the internal educational or other purposes of your own institution or company; mounted on your own or your institution's website; [posted to free public servers of preprints and/or articles in your subject area]; in whole or in part, as the basis for your own further publications or spoken presentations.
Signature(s) of Author(s) and Date(s) Note: every named author must sign this form, or a copy of it
Signature of Copyright Owner, if different and Date
Please return this form by post or fax to [address details]
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