Publishing and Publishers

• A. J. Ayer:– "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: – “As repressed sadists are supposed to

become policemen or butchers, so those with an irrational fear of life become publishers.”

First Journals: 1665

Henry OldenburgHenry Oldenburg

Journal Growth 1665-2001Journal growth

cagr 3.46%

R2 = 0.9877

1

100

10000

1665 1765 1865 1965

Year

No

of

titl

es

lau

nch

ed

an

d s

till

ex

tan

t 20

01

Data from Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory on CD-

ROMSummer 2001 Edition

Total number of active refereed learned journals in 2001: 14,700

R&D Workers, Journals and Articles

0.8

1.2

1.6

1980 1985 1990 1995Year

Inde

x (19

81=1

.00)

US r&dworkers

journals

articles

More researchers more journals

Main Cause of Journal Growth

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?

Reasons for Saying “No”

• Too few papers will be submitted– Area of coverage does not represent 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

New Journal Breakeven Time

surplus

loss

0

7 years

time

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

Establish The Editorial Board

• With Editor(s), identify key members of research community to be 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

Actions to Launch

• Send out a call for papers• Decide on cover design and appearance

of pages with Editor(s)• When enough papers received,

assemble inaugural issue• Promote existence to libraries and

potential readers through direct mail campaigns and free sample issues at conferences

• Launch and monitor paper flow and subscriptions

JOURNALEditorialOffice

AGENT

LIBRARY

PUBLISHER

research community

author

referee

editor

reader

submission

proofing

finalized journal issuesaccepted mss

peer review process

Publishing Cycle

JOURNALEditorialOffice

AGENT

LIBRARY

PUBLISHER

research community

author

referee

editor

reader

submission

proofing

finalized journal issuesaccepted mss

peer review process

Publishing Cycle: Acquiring Content

What Does The Journal Editor Do?• Is the public face of the journal• Decides on what type and standard

of paper will be published• Sets policy in consultation with the

editorial board and the publishers’ editor

• Runs the peer review process supported by an editorial office funded by the publisher

Peer Review

• A methodological check on the soundness of argument, supporting data and cited references of a submitted paper

• Carried out by two or more anonymous academics selected by the journal Editor who work in the same field as the paper (“the reviewers”)

• Reviewers peer review without payment but the costs of administering the selection of reviewers, postage and document costs are borne by the journal

• On average 30% more papers are reviewed than the number published

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?

What Does The Publisher Do?

• Business management– control costs and set financial goals– review subscription development– review production costs and set page

budgets– set guide price– close a failing journal

JOURNALEditorialOffice

AGENT

LIBRARY

PUBLISHER

research community

author

referee

editor

reader

submission

proofing

finalized journal issuesaccepted mss

peer review process

Publishing Cycle: Manufacturing

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

JOURNALEditorialOffice

AGENT

LIBRARY

PUBLISHER

research community

author

referee

editor

reader

submission

proofing

finalized journal issuesaccepted mss

peer review process

Publishing Cycle: Promotion & Sales

Promotion, Distribution and Sales• Promotion and marketing

– Direct mail and web brochures and leaflets

– Exhibitions and advertising– Information on products and prices in

general

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

Magazines versus Journals

Book

reviews

New

s,view

s,com

men

tary

Sh

ort pap

ers

Review

pap

ers

Arch

ival pap

ers

classifieds

Ed

itorial

Letters

advertisin

g

Journalistic/unrefereed Submitted/refereedads ads

Content types and business modelsContent types and business models

Magazines versus Journals

Book

reviews

New

s,view

s,com

men

tary

classifieds

Ed

itorial

Letters

advertisin

g

Journalistic/unrefereedads ads

New Scientist, Scientific AmericanNew Scientist, Scientific AmericanMagazine model: personal sale to individuals, very

high circulation, very high advertising revenue

Magazines versus Journals

Book

reviews

New

s,view

s,com

men

tary

Sh

ort pap

ers

Review

pap

ers

Arch

ival pap

ers

classifieds

Ed

itorial

Letters

advertisin

g

Journalistic/unrefereed Submitted/refereedads ads

Nature, Science, BMJ, Lancet etc.Nature, Science, BMJ, Lancet etc.Hybrid magazine/research journal model: personal sales predominate, high circulation, high advertising income

Magazines versus Journals

Sh

ort pap

ers

Review

pap

ers

Arch

ival pap

ers

Submitted/refereed

Archival Research JournalsArchival Research JournalsResearch journal model: institutional sales,

low circulation, no advertising

Economics of Journal PublishingMagazines 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 costsVariable costs

LowHigh

MediumLow

HighSmall

Economics of Journal Publishing

• Each research area has a limited number of institutions that support it (its “institutional market”)

• Institutional sales for a journal rarely exceed the size of its institutional market– high prices can put buyers off, but very low ones will

not attract customers to buy more than one copy each

• Thus, the more general the subject of the journal the larger its circulation, and vice versa

• High circulations mean lower price, lower circulations higher price

• Specialized titles will always be more highly priced than general ones

Web = Publishing for Free?

• Web is a distribution medium• Production costs are made up of two

components:– cost to create the first copy (85-90%)– cost to duplicate and distribute (10-

15%)

• Copying and distribution become virtually zero, but authentication, licensing and management become more complex

First Copy Costs

• Estimated by Odlyzko and others at an average of $4000 per article

• Has several components– peer review costs for ALL submissions – technology– brand identity management– organization costs

• Users want the functions: first copy cost have to come from somewhere

Alternative Business Models

• Any alternative must raise $4000 per paper to be self-sustaining

• Payment options1. Authors pay (page charges)2. Authors’ institutions pay3. Authors’ granting bodies pay4. Readers pay5. Readers’ agents (library) pay6. National authorities pay (eg, NESLI)

• Tolls and tariffs1. Advertising2. Telecommunication access charges

Electronic Publishing

• Requires 24-7-365 reliability and customer service

• ScienceDirect– 1,500 journals (1,947 if archive of

discontinued merged etc. titles included)– 5 m full text article, 60 m abstracts– 140 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!

Platform Reliability

90%

95%

100%

Aug-00 Nov-00 Feb-01 May-01 Aug-01 Nov-01 Feb-02

Platform Availability