From: Darby Orcutt <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2015 15:17:54 -0400

Rick,

     I can speak only anecdotally, having served as a consultant to
quite a few and mainly smaller societies and journals, but that
statement very much resonates with my own experience. Following up on
Sandy's comments, the only smaller society journals that seem to be
truly break-even or profit-producing today are those handled by
university presses or commercial publishers. Anthony is right on, too,
that lots of subsidy is in the form of overhead, which often includes
student assistants, course releases, and all sorts of funding that IS
subsidy but often isn't thought of or reported in those terms.

     I've usually been contacted at moments of decision or crisis,
e.g., Should we accept an offer from a commercial publisher? How do we
cease print and/or go online? How do we cope with the loss of subsidy?
Should we become (or stop being) Open Access? Many times, I find no
clear accounting has taken place for years. Surprisingly, some
societies simply pay their journals' deficits when necessary and raid
their coffers when desired. I've found that some journals publish late
because they're awaiting next year's subscription income to foot the
bill for last year's publishing.

I hope that, because I'm being called in at times of difficulty, the
craziness I see may be atypical, but I suspect not as much as I'd like
to think. If these contexts are prevalent to any extent, however, any
reported data you might find would tell only part of the story.

     Sorry to be a downer.
Best,
Darby

Darby Orcutt
Assistant Head, Collection Management Department
Chair, Humanities & Social Sciences Subject Team
North Carolina State University Libraries
Box 7111
Raleigh, NC  27695-7111
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