Subject: Re: JAL editors resign
anthony.watkinson (anthony.watkinson@BTinternet.com)
Date: Sat, 17 Apr 1999 19:01:56 +0100
Message-Id: <000401be88ff$bf91e440$4c3663c3@default> From: "anthony.watkinson" <anthony.watkinson@BTinternet.com> To: <arl-ejournal@arl.org> Subject: Re: JAL editors resign Date: Sat, 17 Apr 1999 19:01:56 +0100
On Fri, 16 Apr 1999, David Goodman <dgoodman@princeton.edu> wrote:
>
> On Thu, 15 Apr 1999, Annette Frank <franka@ecostudies.org> wrote:
> >
> > 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
>
>
> The formerly Kluwer journal mentioned is the journal that used to be
> called Evolutionary Ecology, and is now called Evolutionary Ecology
> Research, edited by Micael Rosenzweig, and now published by:
>
> Michael and Carole Rosenzweig
> Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
> University of Arizona
> Tucson AZ 85721-0088
> (520)621-7296, fax (520)621-9190
> SCARAB@U.ARIZONA.EDU
> http://www.evolutionary-ecology.com/
>
> Two issues have now appeared; I have asked the Biology faculty here,
> and they have confirmed my intutition that it is fact of extremely
> high quality.
>
> It is interesting that the Kluwer title, still called Evolutionary
> Ecology, has apparently not had any issues actually published since the
> split last fall. They have a new editor, and, according to the
> publisher,
>
> > > The first issue of 1999, issue 13:1, will be published in
> > > May, and several more of the planned 1999 issue will come
> > > out later this year [...] although we will not be able to
> > > publish the entire 1999 volume (8 issues) this year.
>
> No contents available to me yet, so I cannot judge the quality.
I have an interest in this journal as I was at one stage publishing
director of Chapman & Hall, which owned Evolutionary Ecology before
the sale to Kluwer. Rosenzweig is an excellent editor who has always
worked hard on the journal: he has always felt that if the journal
was cheaper it would have more institutional subscribers - even before
the price was increased significantly.
My experience as a publisher is that, if the subscription rate to a
journal is reduced or held - which I have done in the past - it appears
to make no difference to the number of subscribers. But this is such a
big difference in price: no publisher, profit or non-profit could make
such a cut.
It will be interesting to see what happens now. The test will be if
the new journal gains more subscribers that the old one had. The SPARC
backing should help this happen but I would guess that the new journal
will only be taken by a library as a replacement for the old one: one
of the rare occasions when a replacement journal is a real possibility.
The two journals are very much niche journals rather than for most
universities core journals, and I would be surprised if there was
room for both i.e. enough top class papers for both journals.
The significance of the price cut will also be obscured by the fact
that all the editorial structure moved to the new journal and it
would appear that most if not the authors of the articles under
review withdrew from EE and submitted instead to EER. I cannot
think of another case where this happened.
Worldwide faculty should be aware by now of what is going on, though I
expect that they will be unwilling to cancel EE until they can judge
the quality of the 1999 issues. I suspect therefore that we shall
need to wait another year before it is clear what is happening to
subscribers - but then there will either be a lot of new subscribers
for EER and lots of cancellations for EE or not.
If faculty judge that the articles in both journals are of more or
less equivalent quality will they stick to EE or move to EER?
We may not have any clear picture of what happens in these circumstances
until the early months of 2002 when we can learn about how many are
subscribing at least to EER and perhaps someone can then questionnaire
to find out why and whether they have cancelled EE.
Anthony Watkinson
<anthony.watkinson@btinternet.com>
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