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 [log in to unmask]