RE: potential positive spiral in transition to open access

[sgt3@psu.edu]

Yes, since it has been admitted that many OA journals publish at 
irregular intervals and have no set schedule or promised number 
of issues annually, how does one determine when any such OA 
journal has "ceased" publication? By definition, as an irregular 
publication, it could theoretically be counted as "alive" so long 
as the journal "publisher" has not in some way publicly announced 
that it is dead and gone. And, as Sally notes, it doesn't seem to 
be the case that such announcements are made for OA journals.

Sandy Thatcher
Penn State University Press

> As I pointed out in my previous message, OA journals are not
> necessarily declared 'dead' in the way that subscription journals
> have to be - they just sit there...
>
> Sally Morris
> Consultant, Morris Associates (Publishing Consultancy)
> South House, The Street
> Clapham, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 3UU, UK
> Email:  sally@morris-assocs.demon.co.uk
>
> -----Original Message-----
> [mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Heather Morrison
> Sent: 06 July 2007 00:43
> To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
> Subject: re: potential positive spiral in transition to open access
>
> Sally Morris wrote:
>
> Of course Matt is right that there is a failure rate among non-OA
> journals as well.  Sally also asked whether there Ulrich's data
> to indicate any difference in cessation of publication between OA
> and non-OA journals.
>
> Data from Ulrich's does indeed indicate a difference:  OA
> journals appear to be much less likely (one-tenth as likely) to
> have ceased publication, as compared to scholarly journals
> overall.
>
> Data from Ulrich's, July 5, 2007:
> # of online, refeered, scholarly / academic journals started 2000 -
> 2006:  2,253
> # of above ceased:  59 = .026%
>
> # of online, refereed, scholarly / academic journals, open access
> journals started 2000 - 2006:  724
> # of above ceased:  2 = .0027
>
> The period 2000 - 2006 was selected, to help control for older,
> subscription-only journals that would have ceased before open
> access was an option the journal would have considered.
>
> Sally's original message can be found at:
> http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/ListArchives/0707/msg00021.html
>
> Caution:  this is a very quick piece of research, which has not
> examined or controlled for all potential factors.  Caution should
> be employed in drawing conclusions.  For example, the # of open
> access journals in total in Uhlich's is understated; there are
> only 1,666 scholarly OA journals in Ulrich's, as compared to more
> than 2,700 in DOAJ.
>
> Any opinion expressed in this e-mail is that of the author alone, and
> does not reflect the opinion or policy of BC Electronic Library
> Network or Simon Fraser University Library.
>
> Heather Morrison, MLIS
> The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics
> http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com