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]