RE: How many (peer reveiwed) journals are there?

[waller@ucalgary.ca]

A surprisingly large number of subscription journals hang onto 
life by a tether.  They go into some sort of suspended state or 
maybe publish an issue every few years, just enough so that they 
they're not viewed as being completely dead.  Libraries often 
don't have to pay subscription fees when they are in this state 
but there is still time and energy put into checking up on these 
titles.  Where I work, we come across these sorts of 
almost-ceased journals among our subscriptions on a regular 
basis.  We're being increasingly ruthless in officially canceling 
them.

Andrew Waller
Serials Librarian
University of Calgary

> AS I pointed out in the original article, a subscription 
> journal which published no or hardly any articles would die 
> because the publisher would have nothing to sell.  An OA 
> journal does not - thus an effectively dead journal (or one 
> publishing hardly anything) can remain apparently on the 'live 
> list' indefinitely. Thus I think it would be highly unlikely 
> that one would find a similar percentage of subscription 
> journals in a similar case.
>
> Sally Morris
> Consultant, Morris Associates (Publishing Consultancy)
> Email:  sally@morris-assocs.demon.co.uk
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
> [mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of David Prosser
> Sent: 10 November 2008 01:25
> To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
> Subject: RE: How many (peer reveiwed) journals are there?
>
> Sally
>
> Looking back at your research I see that 'a lot' means about 10%.
> I know that the DOAJ has worked hard to weed-out journals that
> are no longer current, but these things are fluid and there will
> always be some listed that are not currently publishing.  I'm
> sure that some of the subscription titles listed in UIrich's as
> being active are actually no longer current. Unfortunately, you
> did not do a comparative study so we have no idea if 10% really
> is a lot compared to subscription titles or just reflective of
> the general churn in the journals market.
>
> David C Prosser
> Director, SPARC Europe
> Web:    www.sparceurope.org
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
> [mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Sally Morris
> (Morris
> Associates)
> Sent: 07 November 2008 23:30
> To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
> Subject: RE: How many (peer reveiwed) journals are there?
>
> When I studied the DOAJ, a lot of the journals therein were to
> all intents and purposes dead in the water.
>
> Sally Morris
> Consultant, Morris Associates (Publishing Consultancy)
> Clapham, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 3UU, UK
> Email:  sally@morris-assocs.demon.co.uk