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
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