RE: New pricing policy from BSA for American Journal of Botany Online

[Jonathan Nabe <jnabe@lib.uconn.edu>]

This is altogether too harsh.  The folks at AJB are to be commended for
their efforts to involve librarians in their pricing arrangements, right
from the beginning (how unfortunate and typical that only now will they
get the bulk of the feedback).  They are also to be commended for arriving
at a very reasonable and sustainable price for institutions, and for
caring enough to attempt to be "sure that there are no barriers to being
able to afford AJB."  If only commercial publishers had that concern.

I agree that BioOne would have been a good way to go, but Highwire Press
accomplishes many of the same goals... if any other top tier science
journal is available online for $50 for institutions, please contact me,
I'll sign on immediately, no complaints about the processing cost...

Jonathan Nabe
Reference Librarian and Liaison,
College of Agriculture & Natural Resources
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT
jnabe@lib.uconn.edu
PH: 860-486-6688
FAX: 860-486-6100

-----Original Message-----
From: David Goodman [mailto:dgoodman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU]
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2002 1:03 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Re: New pricing policy from BSA for American Journal of Botany
Online

I think, Scott, you will find that adding online access for $50 for the
print subscribers will cost you more than that in administering the
system.

It will also cost libraries and subscription agencies to handle this add
on. I think our actual costs in activating the "complementary" add-on this
year and checking that the transition goes smoothly this year and next
year will be more than $50. You are complicating your life, and ours, for
a trivial sum of money.

This has been characteristic of many of the smaller professional
societies: they understand their profession. They do not understand
electronic publishing.

Have you considered using BioOne instead?

David Goodman
Research Librarian and
Biological Sciences Bibliographer
Princeton University Library
dgoodman@princeton.edu            609-258-7785

On Thu, 23 May 2002, Scott D. Russell wrote:

> As you may be aware, the Botanical Society of America asked for input from
> librarians through this listserv earlier this year for the purposes of
> reconsidering our subscription rates for the online version of the
> American Journal of Botany. I received quite a few volunteers for brief
> interviews and we have met to reconsider this situation at the Spring
> Executive Committee.
>
> As a result of these deliberations, BSA has decided to offer the online
> version of the American Journal of Botany at a rate of $300 per year
> (which is approximately the same as the print version [which is $295 for
> domestic subscribers, $305 for Canada and Mexico, and $325 for other
> international destinations]). Our extended "free trial period" provided an
> impression that the print AJB was included in the online version.
> Unfortunately, there are significant costs associated with the publication
> and administration of this site for which we need supporting funds. We
> decided therefore that print subscribers should receive the online version
> for a nominal rate of $50. Although we still believe that the American
> Journal of Botany represents an unusual bargain among contemporary plant
> biology journals, we feel that we have an academic responsibility to be
> sure that there are no barriers to being able to afford AJB. We will be
> initiating access control in mid-June. Thereafter, we will offer the AJB
> Online only to institutional subscribers and BSA members.

[SNIP]

> Scott D. Russell, Ph.D. (Botany)
> Electronic Publisher, American Journal of Botany Online
> President-Elect, Botanical Society of America