Scholarly Journals Published by Or for Member Societies

Scholarly Journals Published by or for Member Societies of the AAMC Council of Academic Societies (CAS)

A Summary of Two Studies Completed in 2005

Prepared by Gary D. Byrd, Ph.D. Director, Health Sciences Library, University at Buffalo (SUNY) CAS Representative for the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL)

Introduction: This summary report encompasses two studies completed in 2004:

1) CAS Journal Study: With the June 2003 approval of the CAS Administrative Board, AAMC and AAHSL undertook a project to study the characteristics of all the journals published by or for CAS member societies. The goals of this study included:  Helping these societies, AAMC member schools and their libraries better understand and cope with the problems and opportunities facing scholarly journal publishing as the community shifts from print to electronic publishing,  Helping CAS societies compare and benchmark their journals against other society and commercial publishers, and  Providing a framework for these societies, medical schools and health sciences libraries to work together to maintain a healthy, vibrant system for scholarly communication in the health sciences.

2) Kaufman-Wills “Open Access” Study: After analyzing the data from the CAS Journal Study, the Project Advisory Committee recommended an additional survey to better understand the fiscal, editorial and management policies and practices supporting these journals. With AAMC staff support, a follow-up survey instrument was designed, but this work was stopped in August 2004 when it was learned that the Kaufman-Wills Group (in Baltimore) was conducting an almost identical study for the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and HighWire Press (HW). AAMC was able to arrange for expanding the Kaufman-Wills study to include the journals published by CAS member societies. This study, titled “Variations on Open Access,” had the central goal of determining the potential impact of the “open access” online publishing model on the business practices and other editorial, production and licensing operations scholarly societies use to support their journals.

The following sections of this preliminary report will briefly summarize the methods and findings for these two studies.

1 The CAS Journal Study

Sponsoring organizations, staffing and leadership: The study was jointly sponsored by the AAMC Council of Academic Societies and the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL). Gary Byrd was Project Coordinator and staff support was provided by AAMC and AAHSL libraries. A Project Advisory Committee was appointed in January 2004 with the following members:

 Stephen W. Carmichael  Mark J. McCabe Editor in Chief, Clinical Anatomy School of Economics American Assn of Clinical Anatomists Georgia Institute of Technology

 Joetta K Melton  T. Scott Plutchak Publisher, American Family Physician Editor, Jour of the Med Libr Assn American Acad of Family Physicians Medical Library Assn & AAHSL

 Mark E. Sobel  Anthony J. Mazzaschi Manager, Amer Jour of Pathology Director of CAS Affairs Amer Soc for Investigative Pathology Assn of American Medical Colleges

 Shelley A. Bader  Gary D. Byrd AAHSL representative to CAS AAHSL representative to CAS George Wash Univ Medical Center University at Buffalo (SUNY)

Project timeline: The following is a very brief summary of the milestones for the study:

 July-Oct 2003 o Project goals and data collection methods o Web-based data entry forms and database  Oct 2003 – Feb 2004 o Data collection for database o Summary reports  Feb-Mar 2004 o Project Advisory Committee meeting o Preliminary report at CAS Spring Meeting  Apr-May 2004 o Additional data collection o Poster presentation for Medical Library Assn Conference  Jun-Aug 2004 o Fiscal, editorial & management survey design  Sept-Dec 2004 o Data collection for Kaufman-Wills survey  Jan-Mar 2005 o Preliminary analysis of Kaufman-Wills survey results  Apr-Oct 2005 o Completion of final Kaufman-Wills survey report o Publication by ALPSP of final survey report (Oct 2005)

2 o Publication of article in Jrnl of the Med Lib Assoc (Oct 2005) Data collected: The following is list of the data elements included in the CAS Journal Study:

o For each journal: Title (& title changes); sponsoring society; other (commercial) publisher; volumes, issues and pages per year; year first published (if ceased or merged); copyright, licensing and open access policies; differences with electronic version; page charge, repository and retraction policies; ISI Impact Factors; number distributed; pricing for past 5 years. o For each society: Membership in CAS; Sponsor or publisher of journals; relationship to a parent society; affiliated societies. o For each commercial publisher: Foreign or US ownership.

Findings: The statistics below summarize the journal-publishing activities of the societies affiliated with the AAMC Council of Academic Societies (CAS).

 Of the 98 CAS member societies, 51 (52%) sponsor or publish at least one scholarly journal and 47 (48%) do not publish any journals.  Those 51 societies publish a total of 101 journals (about two per society on average, but with a range from 1 to 14 journals per society).  Two other journals are also included in the study database: Academic Medicine (published by AAMC) and Journal of the Medical Library Association (published by a society affiliated with AAHSL).  Of the 103 journals studied, 101 (98%) are published both in print and electronically over the Internet.  A large fraction (47 or 46%) of these journals are published by, or with the help of, a commercial publisher, as follows: o Elsevier (& its subsidiaries) 18 journals o Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 9 journals o Blackwell 5 journals o American Psychiatric Publishing 4 journals o Nature Publishing Group 3 journals o Wiley-Liss 2 journals o Multimedia Healthcare 2 journals o 4 other publishers 1 journal each

The following are additional characteristics of the journals published by CAS member societies:

 Year first published: o 1980 – present 42 journals (42%) o 1960 – 1980 21 journals (21%) o 1940 – 1960 18 journals (18%) o before 1940 20 journals (20%)

3  Pages published per year: o 2,480 average per journal (range: <100 to >10,000) o 207 pages per month

 Number of print copies distributed (data from 48 journals published in 2003): o 14,861 average per journal (range: 300 to 184,000) o 5,268 median

 ISI Impact Factors (data from 78 journals for 2002): o 5.100 mean per journal (range: 0.409 to 36.278) o 3.516 median

 Library subscription prices (data from 63 journals for 2004): o $546 average per journal (range: $45 to $4,900)

 Library subscription price increases (complete data from 13 journals) o 1999 – 2004 (5 years): +103.9% average ($246 to $502) o Average price increase per year: >15%

The following are a few additional editorial and business model policy characteristics of these journals suggested by the CAS Journal Study data:

 The following statistics show the relative availability of published policy statements in the print journals or on the journal publishers’ Websites— o Author copyright release policy: 85% (88 titles) o Library or consortium licensing policy: 80% (82 titles) o Author misconduct policy: 54% (56 titles) o Retraction policy for flawed research: 46% (48 titles) o Electronic repository policy for back volumes: 46% (47 titles) o Author page charges policy: 46% (47 titles)

 The following statistics show the relative prevalence of some business model characteristics of these journals— o Free access is provided for at least some journal content on the journal’s current issues Website: 53% (55 titles) o The journal has one or more paid (vs. volunteer) editors: 39% (41 titles) o There are differences between the content of current print issues and the content included on the journal’s Website: 33% (34 titles) o The journal publishes paper abstracts from the society’s conferences: 27% (28 titles)

4 The Kaufman-Wills “Open Access” Study

Sponsoring organizations, staffing and leadership: This study was jointly sponsored by the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and HighWire Press (HW). The research was carried out by the Kaufman-Wills Group in Baltimore, Maryland and coordinated by Cara Kaufman.

Project methods and timeline: The study was completed in two phases between August and December 2004 consisting of: 1) a September (2 mailings) survey of the publishers of about 1,400 “open access” and “open archive” scholarly journals as well as a Nov-Dec (2 mailings) survey of the 103 CAS society journals, followed by 2) qualitative “case study” interviews with a broad-based sample of over 20 small, medium and large publishers:  The Phase 1 surveys, with 33 check-off questions and 5 open-ended questions, were sent with a cover letter by email to the publications director, editor or managing editor for the open access and open archive journals, and to the executive directors of the societies for the CAS journals.  The Phase 2 open-ended interviews, using an interview guide (covering demographic information about the publisher and its journals, its current business model and future plans, and the current or potential future impact of open access on operations), were conducted with individuals from 22 publishers.

“Open access” journals were defined as those charging no subscription or licensing fee for anyone to access all online journal content immediately upon publication. The survey reached 1,151 of the journals listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (www.doaj.org ). “Open archive” journals were defined as the 184 journals available online from HighWire Press as of September 2004 with at least some current or archival research articles freely available without an individual or institutional subscription or license. Forty-three (42%) of the 103 CAS society journals also maintain archives at HighWire Press and, thus, overlapped the open archive journals.

The following table summarizes the survey responses for the three groups of journals:

Journal Group No. Surveyed No. Completed % of Total DOAJ 1,151 248 21% HighWire 184 85 46% AAMC CAS 103 34 33% (43 H-W) (23 H-W) Totals* 1,438 367 25% -43 -23 1,395 344

5 *Note: The overlap between the HighWire and CAS journals (43 titles) reduced the total number of journals surveyed and responses received.

Data collected: The following is a summary description of the data elements included in the Kaufman-Wills survey:

 Demographic characteristics of the journal (in 2004)— o Type of publisher (commercial, society, university, foundation, etc.) o US or foreign location of publisher o Journal’s subject content area o Types of articles and data published o Year first published in print, and online (& if still in print) o Frequency of print publication o If online version includes articles not published in print o When, and how, new articles are posted to online version o Name of service that hosts online content (e.g, HighWire, etc.) o Number of original articles submitted and published o Online usage statistics o Paying subscribers to print and online versions o ISI Impact Factor

 Editorial policies for the journal— o Peer review policy for print and online original articles o Number of peer reviewers for print and online articles o Online and electronic author services provided o Copyright policy for authors o Policy for use of articles by authors after publication

 Business model and fiscal support for the journal— o Online business model for 2004, and projected for 2005 o If any content provided online for free, groups that influenced this decision o Sources of financial support provided by authors o Where authors obtain funds to pay any publication charges o Sources of financial support provided, other than from authors o Percentages of total revenue from various categories (for 2004 and projected for 2005) o Has journal met overall revenue expectations? o Revenue surplus, breakeven, or shortfall status of journal o Revenue trend from last to current fiscal year

Survey findings: The following data summarize the most significant findings from the Kaufman-Wills surveys and case-study interviews, focusing on those that extend and

6 complement the findings from the CAS Journal Study. NOTE: the DOAJ responses included 113 titles (46% of the total) from two major commercial “open access” publishers (BioMed Central and Internet Scientific Publications).

Demographic characteristics of the journals (average/majority responses):

DOAJ HighWire AAMC CAS  Publication 7+ years 20+ years 28+ years Commercial Not-for-profit Not-for-profit Online only Print & online Print & online

 Article submissions 1,600/ year 1,000/ year 1,000/ year 58% accepted 37% accepted 39% accepted 730 published 346 published 342 published

 Impact Factors 0.90 3.71 3.74

 Online usage o Visitors 29,000/month 58,000/month 74,000/month o Page views 586k/month 258k/month 426k/month o Downloads 553k/month 166k/month 100k/month

Editorial policies of the journals (% of journals in each group):

DOAJ HighWire AAMC CAS  Non peer-reviewed 28% 2% 3% articles published*

 Author online services - Online tracking 40% 83% 79% - Online submission 59% 75% 85% - PDF proofs 56% 75% 88% - Post publication 35% 18% 6% peer review

 Author copyright policies - Author must transfer to publisher 14% 67% 88% - Non-commercial re-use rights given without permission 40% 15% 12%

7 * Note: Virtually all original research articles were reviewed in some fashion, but the HighWire and AAMC CAS journals used external reviewers far more often than DOAJ journals.

Business models for the journals (% of journals in each group):

DOAJ HighWire AAMC CAS  Free vs. paid subscription - all content free 99% 11% 18% - free access delayed (6 - 24 months) 0.4% 83% 38%

 Journal plans to test new business models 60% 62% 68%

 Groups influencing free access policy - society members -- 37% 65% - open access proponents -- 37% 53% - authors 64% 37% 50% - publisher 57% 33% 79% - peer journals -- -- 62%

Sources of financial support (2004) for the journals (% of total revenues):

DOAJ HighWire AAMC CAS  Subscriptions or 5% 66% 68% user licenses  Industry support 37% 12% 15% (e.g.: advertising, reprints, sponsorship, etc.)  Author fees 30% 9% 6%  Member dues 4% 7% 5%  3rd party licenses 2% 2% 0.4%  Grants 12% 1% 3%  Other 10% 3% 2%

8 The financial results and outlook for the journals (% of journals in each group):

DOAJ HighWire AAMC CAS  Last fiscal year results o Had surplus 34% 80% 81% o Broke even 24% 10% 13% o Had deficit 41% 10% 6%

 Revenue trends from last fiscal year o Upward 71% 54% 27% o Flat 16% 36% 58% o Downward 4% 7% 6% o Don’t know, or 9% 3% 9% too soon to tell

 How well journal met revenue expectations o Exceeded 4% 32% 22% o Met 88% 44% 69% o Below 8% 24% 9%

Open-ended question responses: The following sections briefly summarize the kinds of comments and concerns provided in response to the four open-ended questions.

What has been the most significant challenge to implementing your online business model?  Open Archive journals (HighWire and CAS) o Maintaining revenues:  Concerns: losing subscriptions, less print advertising income  Opportunities: institutional subscriptions, site and consortia licenses o Budgeting costs:  Concerns: budgeting for new subscribers, pricing, implementation costs o Operational issues:  Concerns: moving readers from print to online, new workflows, new subscription accounts management, inadequate Website  Open Access journals (DOAJ) o Attracting authors and quality submissions

9 o Securing grants and government support o Increasing paid memberships o Operational issues:  Developing workable print archiving systems  Implementing new online systems  Finding competent reviewers and editors

What is the greatest opportunity made available to you with your current online business model?  Open archive journals (HighWire and CAS) o Maximizing the journal’s distribution o Increasing international presence o Negotiating consortia licenses  Open access journals (DOAJ) o Expanding distribution and visibility o “Advance free access to science,” “Change the world,” etc.

What impact will the Open Access movement have on your journal? On scholarly publishing?  Open archive journals (HighWire and CAS) o Majority expected negative impacts: loss or revenue, inability of authors to pay, potential for mandated change o Many expected no impact (they publish little NIH-funded research) o Few saw positive impacts: more visibility, pushed them to experiment  Open access journals (DOAJ) o Mostly very positive: increasing access to knowledge, improved quality, ability to compete effectively with merged commercial publishers

Do you believe that Open Access journals will be prevalent? Successful? Why or why not?  Open archive journals (HighWire and CAS) o 33% said they will be prevalent and successful o Success will depend on the support of authors  Open access journals (DOAJ) o 49% said they will be prevalent and successful o Success may depend on government intervention

Open-ended case study interviews: The following are some additional interesting conclusions that can be drawn from the in-depth interviews conducted with about 30 individuals from both large and small, for-profit and not-for-profit, scholarly journal publishers from the survey population.

10  These publishers are experimenting with a wide variety of business models, and these models cannot be matched with publisher type.  Every type and size of publisher is experimenting with Open Access.  Author publication fees vary greatly in many different ways and few authors request a waiver of fees.  These publishers most often attributed the pressure to change their editorial, production and subscription/licensing operations to the overall evolution of online publishing, rather than to the Open Access movement.  They described significant cost-cutting measures underway, especially copyediting.  They are spending substantial human resources and capital to address the questions raised by the Open Access movement.  The management of copyright and reuse policies for these journals are independent from their Open Access policies.  The current library periodicals crisis is also due to library budgets not keeping pace with the growth in research budgets and research articles submitted for publication.