From: David Prosser <[log in to unmask]> Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2013 08:50:00 +0000 Congratulations to Phil on completing what looks like a very interesting piece of work. But I'm a bit bemused by John Tagler's comments in the press release that this work supports the view that 'a one-size-fits-all embargo period for scholarly work will not fairly address disparities in journal usage and, in turn, damage the sustainability of high-quality, peer-reviewed science communication'. As far as I know there is no evidence to link download half-life (or citation half-life, or any such metric) with journal cancellations. Phil certainly does not try to make that linkage in his paper. So, while this work is interesting I can't see that it actually tells us anything about the sustainability of high-quality, peer-reviewed science communication. David On 19 Dec 2013, at 03:25, LIBLICENSE wrote: > From: Ann Shumelda Okerson <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2013 13:26:22 -0500 > > Message of wide interest, courtesy of Gary Price's infoDOCKET. > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Gary Price <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 12:23 PM > > via infoDOCKET > http://www.infodocket.com/2013/12/18/new-study-looks-at-usage-patterns-of-academic-journal-articles/ > > From AAP: > > The following independent study analyzes the usage pattern of articles > published in over 2800 academic and professional journals. It > identifies the “half-life” of journals — the amount of time it takes > for articles in a journal to receive half of their lifetime total > downloads — and is the first major broad-based report conducted on > this topic. > > Phil Davis, Ph.D., an independent researcher and former science > librarian, analyzed lifetime usage data from 2812 journals > representing the works of 13 scholarly publishers in 10 distinct > scholarly disciplines including life sciences, engineering, social > sciences and the humanities. > > Key findings: > > • Journal article usage varies widely within and across disciplines > > • It takes significant time for journals to experience half of the > lifetime downloads (“half-life”) of their articles > > • Articles in the majority of journals receive more than half of their > lifetime downloads three or more years after publication > > • Only 3% of journals in all fields have half-lives of 12 months or less > > • Health sciences articles have the shortest median half-life of the > journals analyzed, but still more than 50% of health science journals > have usage half-lives longer than 24 months > > • In fields with the longest usage half-lives, including mathematics > and the humanities, more than 50% of the journals have usage > half-lives longer than 48 months > > Full Text of News Release Includes Comment from John Tagler > > http://publishers.org/press/124/ > > Direct to Full Text Report by Phil Davis > > http://www.publishers.org/_attachments/docs/journalusagehalflife.pdf > > __gary > > > Gary D. Price, MLIS > Co-Founder and Editor, Library Journal's INFOdocket.com > Co-Founder and Editor, FullTextReports.com > Information Industry Analyst > Librarian > http://INFOdocket.com > http://FullTextReports.com > > #end