From: Michael Carroll <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 07:35:13 -0500

Joe's are interesting and important questions. I'd especially second the
one about mapping the entire scholarly periodical literature. Imagine a
library were given a grant that would cover all costs associated with
compiling a complete set of scholarly journal articles in all disciplines
published within a year, would it be possible? Having reached deals with
all of the major aggregators, about how many additional titles would the
library have to seek out and acquire?

Best,
Mike

Michael W. Carroll
Professor of Law and Director,
Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property
American University Washington College of Law
Washington, D.C. 20016

*******

On 1/25/15 2:26 PM, "LIBLICENSE" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 12:39:15 -0500
>
>I am responding here to Jan's note, but I have also received a number
>of responses to my question offline from people who don't wish to have
>their institutional affiliation disclosed.
>
>Yes, it's negotiable, as Jan says.  So the question could better be
>put this way:  What is the retail price for all the subscription
>journals (that are available in electronic form), and how much would a
>customer actually have to pay for them?
>
>This brings us to the question of the category of customer.  Would an
>academic library pay more or less than an individual, than a company?
>Would there be a distinction between a large company and a raw
>start-up?
>
>Then there is the matter of the number of journals.  I thought (silly
>me!) that the number was around 25,000, a figure I picked up form
>reading Stevan Harnad's many posts.  But one person commented that the
>number is perhaps twice that.  How to resolve this?  How many
>scholarly journals are there that are peer-reviewed and sold in
>digital form?
>
>A related question is domain.  I was looking for the figure for all
>disciplines, but one comment I received addressed STM specifically.
>How many HSS journals are there, how many in STM?
>
>And all of this is for current issues.  The backfiles still loom over
>this discussion.
>
>I have gotten a couple estimates for the total cost, but I am going to
>withhold them for a bit in order not to influence anyone else who
>wants to take a crack at this.  And I hope more people do.
>
>Does it not seem odd that these figures are not readily available
>somewhere?
>
>Now, as for Jan's comment that a journal is a bundle, well, that would
>get us onto a long and perhaps unproductive path.  My view is that a
>journal is a bundle is the same sense that a house is.  In my house
>there are TVs, tables, chairs, iPhones, sinks, and everything else you
>would expect.  All of this was purchased "off the shelf," but still
>somehow it is *our* house; it feels like ours, and people who visit
>feel that way, too.  I know personality and subjectivity are the
>abominations of the modern world, but I am a cheerful troglodyte and
>have remarked upon the personality of a publisher:
>
>http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2013/06/03/the-personality-of-a-publish
>er/
>
>Switching metaphors, let's consider the original version of the
>classic science fiction film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."  How
>does the hero know whether the woman the he is in love with is human
>or an alien? He kisses her, and all is revealed.  Is a journal merely
>a bundle?  Kiss and tell.
>
>Joe Esposito
>
>
>On Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 4:56 AM, Jan Velterop <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Joe, the answer is ³negotiable². Many of the published list prices of
>>journals are at Œdiscouragement levels¹, meaning that taking out
>>individual subscriptions is not liked by most publishers. Bundles are
>>preferred. (By the way, isn¹t a journal a Œbundle¹ in itself? Of
>>articles, some of which may be relevant, cited, popular and such, some
>>of which totally ignored?)
>>
>> Basing the total cost on published list prices will give an upper limit
>>of what the cost could be. It is likely to be far, far higher than the
>>real cost, should someone actually wish to buy all the peer reviewed
>>journals that exist and has the good sense to negotiate the price.
>>
>> Jan Velterop