From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2012 23:18:28 -0500 For a little historical perspective, one might study the early years of the University of California Press, which was set up as a service agency to publish the work of UC faculty. This is a model that Kathleen Fitzpatrick, in Planned Obsolescence (NYU, 2011), wonders is not the one to which universities should return, in tandem with a move toward post-publication peer review. It's an idea certainly worth debating. She I believe she tunes into this listserv, she might want to elaborate on the idea in her own words. Sandy Thatcher > From: <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2012 10:59:25 +0000 > > Isn't this becoming a debate about whether research institutions > should take responsibility for publishing the research done by their > staff? This is a big shift since, historically, institutions have > largely left responsibility for publishing to their research staff. > > If we accept that institutions need to take over this responsibility > from individual staff, then we need to ask the question: will > institutions be any good at discharging this responsibility? > > Are there examples today of research institutions taking > responsibility for their publishing? Well, yes. I should declare an > interest because I work for one. OECD, like most international > organizations (UN, World Bank, IMF et al), has always taken > responsibility for publishing its research and data, as do many > government departments. I'm sure there will be more in other areas. > > How well do institutions like the one I work for discharge this > responsibility? Do they invest and allocate sufficient resources to > create the services needed by readers? Does it work well from the > point of view of readers both specialist and lay? > > There has been a lot of research and modeling on OA which has pushed > the debate in the direction of organizational responsibility, so I > wonder if an examination of some real-life case studies of > institutions that do take responsibility for publishing might now be > timely. What are the costs? What do the authors in these institutions > feel about the institution having publishing responsibility? Do > readers find it easy to discover and understand the research coming > from these institutions? Do the institutions believe they get value > for the money they spend on publishing? How do small institutions cope > - does scale matter? > > Any volunteers? > > Toby Green > Head of Publishing > OECD > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Sally Morris <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:35:28 +0100 > > Subject: RE: The Finch Report: UCL's David Price Responds > > Those university presses, learned societies etc that have succeeded seem to > attract much the same opprobrium as other publishers... > > Sally Morris > Email: [log in to unmask] > > -----Original Message----- > From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2012 22:43:45 -0500 > > It would also have been a more sensible option if universities had supported > their own publishing infrastructure more in the first place and not allowed > commercial publishers to establish such a dominant position in STM journal > publishing. In the immediate postwar years that was still a live option. > Administrative myopia helped create the conditions that Kevin deplores. > > Sandy Thatcher