From: Rich Dodenhoff <[log in to unmask]> Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:40:58 +0000 Societies may outsource their journals for many reasons. Some have only one or two journals, and it isn't cost effective to self-publish. There is also the often justified fear among society publishers with a small number of journals that they are being squeezed out of the market by large package deals from commercial publishers. Titles from small nonprofit publishers are often passed over, no matter how low their price or how high their impact factors, because there isn't much money left after a library purchases big deals. Nonprofit society publishers may move to a commercial publisher because they feel that's the only way their journals will survive. Richard Dodenhoff Journals Director American Society for Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics -----Original Message----- From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:46:49 -0500 It does seem odd that societies would outsource their journal publishing to large commercial publishers because they can be assured in advance (1) that the prices will go way up, (2) fewer individuals will be able to afford to subscribe to them, and (3) any profits made will not redound to the benefit of academic research since they will go to pay shareholders or be used to grow the size of the company further so as to increase its market share. Why do scholars complain about commercial journal practices and then turn around and allow their societies to help those companies profit even further at the expense of academe? Sandy Thatcher