Ted Bergstrom's study reports that articles published in the
most-prestigious economics journals are more often
self-archived
than less-prestigious (and more expensive) journals [1].
This is
similar to the findings of Jonathan Wren who reported that
the
likelihood of an article being found freely-available at a
non-publisher's website increases with the journal's impact
factor [2].
Is Thomas Krichel advocating a library market where only the
worst and most expensive garner institutional support? The
market incentives seem backward. --Phil Davis
[1] Bergstrom TC, Lavaty R. How often to economists
self-archive?
University of California, Santa Barbara,
2007:http://repositories.cdlib.org/ucsbecon/bergstrom/2007a.
[2] Wren JD. Open access and openly accessible: a study of
scientific
publications shared via the Internet. BMJ 2005; 330(7500).
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/330/7500/11
28
Joseph J. Esposito wrote:
> I wonder if we couldn't usefully play a little game
here.
>
> What would happen if libraries began to do precisely
what Thomas
> Krichel says they should--that is, begin to cancel
journals whose
> contents can largely be found through various open
access sources?
>
> Would we expect the publishers, both commercial and
NFPs, to do
> nothing? Would they say, Well, the game is up. Let's
get out of
> publishing and go into real
estate or sell subprime mortgages, for
> which we are ideally suited.
>
> Would we expect legal and regulatory challenges?
>
> Would publishers adapt to the new environment by
developing new
> services that do not require subscriptions for content?
If so, who
> would pay for these services?
>
> Would publishers get out of the editorial activity,
including peer
> review, altogether? If so, what organizations would
spring up and how
> would they be financed?
>
> Would traditional peer review be deemed to decline in
importance in an
> era of rapid-fire communications and commentary?
>
> Would the net cost of scholarly communications borne by
academic
> institutions be greater or less?
>
> Even if we don't know the answers to some or all of
these questions,
> should we push for the cancellations of the
subscriptions anyway?
>
> Joe Esposito
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