Re: Does More Mean More?

["Sally Morris \(ALPSP\)" <sally.morris@alpsp.org>]

Publishers control quantity in individual journals - they do not 
allow them to grow as fast as the literature overall (otherwise 
there would be no new journals).

By publishers I mean those entities - commercial or 
not-for-profit - who work with specialist editors to produce 
journals.  In my experience of many years as a journal publisher, 
increases in extent are worried over very carefully, since both 
publishers and editors know that steep price increases will 
damage subscriptions.  Thus there is a tendency to moderate any 
growth in influx of suitable papers, by raising the acceptance 
bar. It's sometimes put forward as a benefit of e-journals that 
they are not subject to extent limitations;  I think that's wrong 
on two counts.  First, the real rate limiting factor for a 
journal is people's time, not paper.  And second, a journal which 
grows out of control is not performing a very helpful service to 
the time-poor reader.

Thus, by quantity control, I mean not publishing everything that 
comes a journal's way, and if necessary (see above) raising 
acceptance standards in order for the journal not to grow too 
much, if at all.  Publishers and their editors are very well 
aware that the reader doesn't magically have more time to read 
just because there are more papers - readers want the journal to 
do the filtering for them

Sally Morris, Chief Executive
Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers
Email:  sally.morris@alpsp.org

----- Original Message -----
From: "William Walsh" <libwdw@langate.gsu.edu>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 10:55 PM
Subject: Re: Does More Mean More?

> 1995:
>
> ...academic literature is said to be doubling every 10-15 years.
> Publishers do not gratuitously create new journals; they respond
> to a perceived need for publication...
>
> Jan. 27, 2006:
>
> One of the key values publishers add, as well as 'quality
> control', is 'quantity control'.
>
> Feb. 3, 2006:
>
> Both articles and journals (and, of course, the number of
> scientists) has risen by a more or less steady 3 percent per
> annum for a very long time.
>
> Sally,
>
> In your Jan. 27th post, how are you defining "publisher" and
> "quantity control"?
>
> Bill
>
>
> William Walsh
> Head, Acquisitions Department
> Georgia State University Library
> 100 Decatur Street, SE
> Atlanta, GA 30303
> Phone: 404.651.2149
> Fax: 404.651.2148
> Email:  wwalsh@gsu.edu