From: William Gunn <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 01:38:38 +0000


Digital Science may well prove wise in choosing to remain separate
from all this.



On Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 3:37 PM LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: "Hamaker, Charles" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 04:05:12 +0000
>
> I will have to agree with Joe. This will never result in lower prices
> to libraries. In addition in my personal opinion it is culturally
> likely to result in shell shock for the employees of the two companies
> in terms of cultural and every day expectations of what each values. I
> can't speak highly enough of the quality of Springer book decision
> making while I detest their sales model.
>
> On Springer journals end, they don't measure for the most part up to
> Nature's stable in terms of quality. But all springer journals
> together do not cost much different than Nature's smaller list of
> elite titles. Derk Haank  is a bit of a magician but I suspect the
> culture clash will take more than 3 years to remediate
>
> Chuck
>
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 21:04:22 -0500
>
> Does anyone really believe that this merger will result in LOWER costs
> to libraries????
>
> And as for the notion that the two companies will continue to operate
> autonomously, I would be astounded if that proved to be true.  The
> point of a merger is to merge.
>
> Joe Esposito
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 19, 2015 at 8:55 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > From: Colin Steele <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: Mon, Jan 19, 2015 at 4:42 PM
> >
> > http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/springer-nature-deal-sign-of-times/story-e6frgcjx-1227187481600?nk=4c5503e7bb13693a21dbc4cfbf6b1104
> >
> > by: ANDREW TROUNSON
> > From: The Australian
> > January 19, 2015 12:00AM
> >
> > Andrew Trounson
> > Higher Education Reporter
> > Melbourne
> >
> > THE merger of scholarly publishing giant Springer with the publisher
> > of leading academic journal Nature, is the latest sign of the
> > disruption facing scholarly publishing in the face of online
> > technology and the growing pressure for journals to provide free
> > access to research papers.
> >
> > The incorporation of the Nature suite of journals will give Springer a
> > big boost in prestige compared with rival giants such as Elsevier,
> > Wiley and Taylor & Francis. Macmillan Science and Education, which
> > owns Nature and is proposing to merge with Springer, only produces
> > about 160 scientific journals, well behind sector leader Elsevier with
> > 3,057. But in Nature it has arguably the biggest single journal brand.
> > Springer has 2,987 titles, putting it second behind Elsevier, but if
> > the merger goes through it will be the biggest, just.
> >
> > The proposed merger still needs clearance from European competition
> > regulators and academic libraries have been quick to voice concerns
> > that they could be squeezed by the reduction in competition. But there
> > is also optimism that the merger will bring efficiencies that can be
> > passed on to libraries in the form of lower subscription costs.
> >
> > “We are continually becoming more efficient and are expect the
> > publishers to also take some of the hard yards they need to rather
> > than expect us to simply keep paying more,” said Philip Kent, the
> > University of Melbourne’s library head. Mr Kent is also chairman of
> > the Council of Australian University Librarian’s journal purchasing
> > consortium. He noted that the weak Australian dollar, which has
> > declined steeply since September, is significantly increasing costs
> > for university libraries.
> >
> > Mr Kent welcomed the fact that both Springer and Macmillan were
> > quality publishers, suggesting there was no reason to worry that
> > quality could be put at risk from the merger. “They are both quality
> > publishers and we have had good dealings with both of them,” he said.
> >
> > Aidan Byrne, chief executive of the Australian Research Council, said
> > the proposed merger continues a long trend of publishers seeking to
> > get bigger through mergers. He said a key question will be whether
> > they may be some centralisation of how the often autonomous journals
> > in the enlarged stable are run. “My guess is that they will stay
> > fairly autonomous.”
> >
> > In a stock market research note Exane BNP Paribas said “the players
> > are two of the largest scientific publishers and in our view the
> > merger will create significant cost synergies and make their journal
> > collection more ‘must have’ for university libraries.”
> >
> > “Nature’s smaller, very high quality journal portfolio will complement
> > Springer’s wider, lower impact factor portfolio,” it said.
> >
> >  [SNIP]
> >
> > Selective belt tightening: Journal publisher Springer’s merger with
> > Nature publisher Macmillan looks to be a defensive move, securing the
> > high profile journal when the future of academIc publishing is looking
> > decidedly shaky. But will the merger deliver economies of scale that
> > can be passed on to the libraries? As Melbourne University library
> > head Phillip Kent points out, there’s been a lot of belt tightening in
> > recent times and it would be nice to see the journal publishing giants
> > cutting back on costs and passing them on. Given the merger is the
> > first step to an ultimate plan to sell the business on a stock market,
> > HW suspects Mr Kent is dreaming.
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------
> >
> > Colin Steele
> > Emeritus Fellow
> > ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
> > The Australian National University
> > Acton, ACT, 2601
> > Australia
> > E: [log in to unmask]