ACS journals go e-only?

["Okerson, Ann" <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

Of possible interest.

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>From the Chronicle of Higher Education Online -- July 10, 2009

Chemistry Journals Go Digital-Only

The American Chemical Society, which publishes several dozen 
academic journals, is moving to end print editions and produce 
journals only online. The move was noted by the journal Nature in 
late June after someone sent it a copy of a memo from a 
chemical-society official, but unfortunately you can't read the 
complete report 
<http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090617/full/news.2009.576.html> 
unless you pay a fee to subscribe or buy one-time access.

And that's precisely the issue - making money online, and losing 
it in print - that drove the chemistry society's decision, 
according to a recent story in Ars Technica, which you can read 
in full 
<http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/07/academic-publisher-reportedly-going-online-only.ars>, 
at no charge. The Web site notes that the journal publisher said, 
in the memo, that "printing and distribution costs now exceed 
revenues from print journals." Plus, scientists seem happier 
reading online, the society thinks. So this summer, all but three 
of its journals will become digital-only. No word on whether the 
society will pass on to subscribers the savings it realizes from 
buying less paper and fewer stamps. But don't hold your breath.

-Josh Fischman

Posted on Friday July 10, 2009
The Chronicle of Higher Education