Towards Electronic Journals: Realities for Scientists, Librarians and Publishers

Citation

Walther, J.H. (2001), "Towards Electronic Journals: Realities for Scientists, Librarians and Publishers", The Bottom Line, Vol. 14 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/bl.2001.17014bae.002

Towards Electronic Journals: Realities for Scientists, Librarians and Publishers

Towards Electronic Journals: Realities for Scientists, Librarians and Publishers

Tenopir, C. and King, D.W.Special Libraries AssociationWashington, DC2000

Keywords: Publishing, Electronic publishing, Librarians, Costs, Scientists

As true experts in the field of scholarly communication, Tenopir and King have published a highly relevant text for several audiences in their new book. This work encompasses a series of studies the authors have conducted to fully understand and clarify looming questions regarding users, publishers, and libraries, framed around answering concerns on the present and future possibilities for electronic scholarly journals. The library literature is rich with case studies and models of applications for implementing electronic journals. Yet, this text differs in several key ways:

1. 1.

   Cost models. Several unique cost models are developed in what the authors call a bottom-up approach, which takes on a different strategy than that traditionally used by economists throughout similar assessments;

2. 2.

   Methodology. Both quantitative factors and qualitative methods were employed in gaining answers to questions, which give the reader a rare, insider's view of how users, namely scientists, use scholarly communication; and

3. 3.

   Framework. Few research studies could successfully accomplish what this text fully delivers. An effective historical context is developed on the issues of electronic journals, with a valuable assessment of the current stage of factors and an eye on applying this working knowledge to the future. With this in-depth framework, library practitioners, researchers, publishers, and financial managers are each given the ability to be fully versed, beyond case or controlled examples, and more completely understand the scope of the situations presented to libraries today.

The book includes 18 chapters, of which, several are of interest to librarians interested in the finance applications of scholarly communication. Such chapters are:

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  "Use and economics of libraries", Chapter 9.

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  "Use and economics of library-provided scientific scholarly articles", Chapter 10.

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  "Cost of scientific scholarly journal publishing", Chapter 12.

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  "Pricing of scientific scholarly journals", Chapter 13.

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  "Financing scholarly journals", Chapter 14.

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  "Economic aspects of the Internet", Chapter 16.

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  "Cost of electronic scholarly journal publishing", Chapter 17.

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  "Electronic scholarly journal pricing", Chapter 18.

Yet, even chapters not directly pricing or cost related will be tied together effectively on the context of pricing. The book is designed to assist readers to "understand the economic and systemic nature of scholarly journals" (p. 7), of which it fully and excellently delivers. Electronic journals have often been named the solution to the so-called serials crisis, which has a combination of factors including: differential pricing, monopolistic publishers, escalating prices, and a devaluation of US currency. What this text offers is what financial managers want, which is the practical context of the problems of traditional publishing, built into a real evaluation of the promise, practicability and possibility of fully deploying electronic scholarly journals.

Included in the author's assessment is a valuable evaluation of consequences of journal prices, an essential appraisal of how price and cost relationships exist for journals, and how changing to electronic formats may not make everything necessarily cheaper or easier. The authors closely examine how libraries will continue to be faced with an array of pricing options for scholarly journals, despite the format, since up-front costs and management of the publishing process will always demand large sums of money.

From the researcher examining historical and current trends in publishing, to the librarian evaluating trends in costs of libraries' services, to the administrator or publisher evaluating a business model, this text is an essential read for understanding the complex, yet ever-changing world of scholarly journals. Given the considerable costs spent each year on scholarly communication in our given libraries, this text is a must read for both business managers and those involved in service delivery in libraries today.

James H. WaltherEditor of The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances, Bryan Cave, LLP, Washington, DC