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Re: Does More Mean More?

There's a confusion here. The overall quantity of papers is, indeed, increasing year on year - in step with research funding - at about 3% pa. And studies have shown that pretty much all papers end up getting published somewhere.

Individual journals, however, generally do not increase in size by 3% a year - if they did, no new journals would ever be created. In fact, I understand that every increase of 100 in the total output of papers tends to lead to the creation of a new journal. Existing journals perform a service to their readers by becoming increasingly selective over time.

Sally Morris, Chief Executive
Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers
Email: sally.morris@alpsp.org

----- Original Message -----
From: "William Walsh" <libwdw@langate.gsu.edu>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 4:23 AM
Subject: Re: Does More Mean More?

It is ironic given that as recently as November 2005, a major publisher was telling investors that one of the attractive features of their science and technology business was "increasing research article output +3%."

William Walsh
Head, Acquisitions Department
Georgia State University Library
100 Decatur Street, SE
Atlanta, GA 30303

ucylfjf@ucl.ac.uk 01/29/06 8:09 PM >>>

It is ironic that publishers are now claiming to be the guardians
of quantity. Since World War 2 the number of journals published
by subscription publishers has increased dramatically. Anyway the
main driver for quantity of publication is not the business model
but the quantity of research undertaken by the academic
community.

Fred Friend
JISC Scholarly Communication Consultant
Honorary Director Scholarly Communication UCL