Subject: Re: JAL editors resign
Annette Frank (FrankA@ecostudies.org)
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 17:02:24 -0400
Message-Id: <8580A09F593ED11189B7006097DB81DF2E929C@01IES> From: Annette Frank <FrankA@ecostudies.org> To: arl-ejournal@arl.org Subject: Re: JAL editors resign Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 17:02:24 -0400
On Thu, April 15, 1999, Peter Graham <psgraham@syr.edu> wrote:
>
> I want to note with applause the action of Sue Martin and others to
> resign from the JAL editorial board over concerns about Elsevier
> ownership. --pg
>
> =========================
>
> Library Journal's Academic Newswire(TM): The Book Report
> April 15, 1999
>
> [...]
>
> JAL BOARD MEMBERS RESIGN OVER ELSEVIER PURCHASE
> "With the journal being purchased we are placed in a
> position of writing for and getting honoraria from a
> publisher we have been castigating for years about high
> prices," explained Susan K. Martin, university librarian at
> Georgetown, when asked why she was leaving her post as a
> features editor at the JOURNAL OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIANSHIP.
> "We have been suggesting to our faculty for years that they
> not be on Elsevier's editorial boards, now we find
> ourselves with a moral dilemma." For more than half of the
> editorial board as well as several columnists and editor
> Gloriana St. Clair, the answer to that quandary is to
> resign from the journal.
>
> Everyone does not agree, however. Editor-in-Chief Peter
> Hernon, some board members, and several columnists will
> remain. Where Martin sees a need to act consistently with a
> previously stated position, Hernon's main concern was
> protecting the reputation of the journal. "The journal is
> highly regarded in other disciplines as well, you don't
> just throw that aside," said Hernon, professor at Simmons
> College GSLIS. An editorial board member speaking off the
> record noted a "dichotomy between librarians who manage
> libraries, have been cutting journals, and counseling
> faculty, and, on the other side, librarians who are in
> library schools and see this as a part of the tenure
> process." Supporting this view is a study by Ronald F. Dow,
> another departing board member, who asked authors of recent
> articles if they would withhold future work from an
> Elsevier publication; Dow said "very few" were willing to
> write off the journal. No word on where that study will be
> published. [...]
It is nice to see that this is happening more often. The editor in
chief and the entire editorial board of a Kluwer journal resigned
recently. They now publish a journal for one third of the cost,
with the same peer reviewed high quality. Publishers will have to
wake up. We hope
Annette
Annette Frank
<franka@ecostudies.org>
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