Scholarly Publishing Practice: the Alpsp Report on Academic Journal Publishers' Policies and Practices in Online Publishing

ALPSP has carried out a major new study of the policies and practices of 275 international academic journal publishers, both not-for-profit and commercial (with a remarkable 66% response rate, including all of the major publishers). The findings provide hard evidence to counter some of the criticism from within both the academic community and some government circles. An executive summary of the report is available online at: www.alpsp.org/news/sppsummary0603.pdf Here are just some of the findings: Publishers are making more and more content available online - 75% of journals are now online. In most cases back issues are available from 1997 or 1998, and a number have digitised back to Volume 1 Issue 1; continuing access to previously subscribed volumes is provided by about 2/3. Many not-for-profit publishers make back files freely available to all after a period (perhaps in response to the Public Library of Science initiative), though commercial publishers are more likely to charge; about half have formal arrangements for long-term preservation. Almost all publishers offer more content to more users via bundling and/or consortia deals; pricing models vary, though they are generally based on print. Many publishers are also making content available free or at very low prices to customers in less developed countries. Publishers' licences are much more liberal than has been suggested - more than half (particularly larger publishers) allow use of material in course packs, and only slightly fewer permit use for e-reserves and inter-library-loan. And although over 80% do require authors to transfer copyright, nearly 69% in fact allow posting of published articles to web sites and nearly half (particularly larger publishers) also permit posting of pre-publication versions. Nearly 3/4 allow re-use within the author's institution, and more than half also allow the author to re-use the material in other publications.John Cox Associates Staff is the author of 'Scholarly Publishing Practice: the Alpsp Report on Academic Journal Publishers' Policies and Practices in Online Publishing', published 2003 under ISBN 9780907341246 and ISBN 0907341241.