Re: Monopolies in publishing

["Sally Morris" <sec-gen@alpsp.org>]

We should remember that peer review is by no means all that's happened to
the article.

The journal has been created in the first place (involving market
research, and considerable financial risk - few new journals break even
before their 5th year these days, and a number don't make it at all) - the
journal 'envelope' is, I believe, still extremely valuable in ecapsulating
a manageable subset of information that is particularly relevant and
interesting to a given audience

The content has been edited to improve both content and expression (a
function highly valued, as our studies show, by the authors themselves)

The journal has been marketed (i.e. made as visible as possible - by
inclusion in the most important indexes, and by linking to and from
citations and databases)

Sally Morris, Secretary-General
Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers
South House, The Street, Clapham, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 3UU, UK

Phone:  01903 871686 Fax:  01903 871457 E-mail:  sec-gen@alpsp.org
ALPSP Website  http://www.alpsp.org


----- Original Message -----
From: "Terry Hulbert" <terry.hulbert@iop.org>
To: <jan@biomedcentral.com>; <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2003 12:19 AM
Subject: RE: Monopolies in publishing

> >>...they are preprints without a journal 'label sown into them', and in
> >>the journals they obviously have this 'label'.  <<
>
> Methinks you're being just a tad disingenuous here, Jan. The difference
> between these two manifestations of the article isn't just a 'label'. It's
> a label that's been through a process - peer-review This is the key
> difference, I guess - although not the only one. Maybe this is worth
> paying for?
>
> The only difference between BMC and the vast majority of other publishers
> is who's paying for this. And, as is often pointed out, how much is being
> paid.
>
> Terry Hulbert
>
> >>> Jan Velterop <jan@biomedcentral.com> 07/11/03 12:19pm >>>
> Terry, You're absolutely right. In physics, articles do seem to exist in
> two places. But they're not exactly the same. In Archiv, they are
> preprints without a journal 'label sown into them', and in the journals
> they obviously have this 'label'. The biggest puzzle to me is, too, why do
> large numbers of librarians fork out often substantial sums, basically
> just for the labels. Maybe the labels are worth it. Perhaps one of the
> librarians on this list might want to comment.
>
> Jan Velterop