The Business of Journals Publishing

Overview What is a journal? How journals have evolved What authors want Submission of an article to the editorial office Managing the peer-review process Developing journal quality About the impact factor Production process Online publication Getting the article to the right readers

Background to Wiley-Blackwell The Scientific, Medical, Technical and Scholarly business of John Wiley & Sons - publishing for 200 years 1400 journals published in 2008 5000+ OnlineBooks available in 2008 Half published on behalf of not-for-profit societies Blackwell has been publishing journals in medicine, science, social science and the humanities since 1922 and now publishes 800 titles. Two thirds of these are published on behalf of not-for-profit scholarly societies and membership associations who choose to partner with a professional publishing house like Blackwell rather than managing the process themselves. I speak on behalf of Blackwell but many of the publishing processes which I will describe to you today will be very similar to those practised by most other journal publishers, be they commercial, university-based, society-based, large, or small.

What is a journal? A serial publication Appearing at regular intervals No termination date Articles written by scholars Report original research or review current scholarship Dedicated to a specific subject area Read by specialists in the field Originally to share the findings of a learned society A journal is a serial publication which appears at regular intervals with no termination date. It is made up of articles which are written by scholars and which report original research or review current scholarship. They tend to be dedicated to a particular subject area and are read by specialists in the field.

First Journal launched in 1665 Henry Oldenburg Originally they were intended to share the findings of members of a learned society and indeed the first journal, Philosophical Transactions, launched in 1665, was aimed at sharing information among members of the Royal Society of London and with their friends abroad.

Journal Growth 1665-2001 Total number of active refereed learned journals in 2001: 14,700 Now well over 20,000

Main Cause of Journal Growth In US alone the number of R&D works has been increasing dramatically The number of published articles has increased at a similar rate Therefore the number of journals published has also increased at a similar rate More researchers  more articles  more journals More researchers  more journals

Why do journals survive? Useful vehicles for disseminating research results Archive knowledge Provide a stamp of quality and authority to work Provide recognition to the person who carried out the research Keep other researchers and practitioners up to date Advance the knowledge base of the discipline Researchers can further their own careers Concludes a study The reason why journals have continued to stand the test of time is that their original mission still holds true. They are incredibly useful vehicles for disseminating research results, archiving knowledge, and providing a stamp of quality and authority to work. By association, researchers publishing in journals achieve recognition, can keep colleagues up to date, advance the knowledge base of their discipline, and have the opportunity to further their own academic careers. In fact, a piece of study is not usually said to be completed until the results are written up in the form of an article and published in a journal.

How publishers develop their journal lists Launch brand new titles for new research areas - May be a spin-off from another title Transfer journals from other publishers Take on journals previously self-published It is certainly a strategy of larger commercial and society publishers to increase the number of titles they are publishing…how? There are 3 ways of gaining a journal to publish: Brand New Title Change of Publisher DIY to Publisher

Launching new journals is a long-term strategy surplus 7 years time New title policy in 2006 – exclude titles from collections loss

Transferring Journals Titles owned by Societies Publishing Contracts usually last 3-7 years Change Publisher for a number of reasons Value for Money Increased exposure Additional Value Added Publishing Services Can cause many admin and access headaches Being tackled by the TRANSFER Project

Publishers Add Value… Technical infrastructure Online publication Electronic editorial office Best practice Sharing costs Financial support Administrative services Copy editing XML tagging and mark up Proofing and typesetting Online publication Print publication Print distribution Management of metadata Marketing media Usage statistics Archival deposit Legal infringement monitoring One way to understand the value that publishers add is to look at the process of publishing from the very start, from the time authors are choosing where to publish their research.

How do authors choose a journal? Reputation of the journal Quality of its content Quality of the peer-review process Speed of publication Lots of the right readers Relevance to their subject Impact factor Abstracting and indexing services Blackwell commissioned a survey last year to find out exactly that. It found that when choosing where to publish, authors said that the “reputation of the journal” is the top priority, followed by “quality of content” second, and “quality of peer review” equal third with “speed of publication”. “Impact factor” surprisingly only came seventh although with some variation between subjects. It scored higher in dermatology and economics and lower in ecology and nursing. “Price”, “value for money”, and “copyright and contract issues” came last. Our conclusion was that outside the reputation of the journal the area where publishers need to work most to attract authors is through better “author care”, such as giving authors a decision quickly and keeping them informed of progress. As publishers we are dependent on the performance of the editorial office for this and are developing a range of services to support this effort, as I shall describe.

Submitting an article to a journal Online submissions systems on the market: Manuscript Central (ScholarOne) Editorial Manager (Aries Systems Corp) Bench>Press (HighWire) Allen Track (Allen Press) Espere (consortium of publishers) Once the author has identified the best journal for their article, they will follow the author notes, usually published in the inside front cover of journals, and submit to it. Increasingly the submissions process for journals is entirely web-based, though many of the smaller publishers still follow postage-based processes. Around 200 Blackwell journals now use what’s known as an Electronic Editorial Office and we plan to roll it out for all titles within 3 years. The Blackwell journals use a system called Manuscript Central from Scholar One but there are 5 or 6 alternatives on the market.

Online submission and review Online submission of articles Authors can track their article’s progress Automated correspondence with authors, reviewers and the publisher Reduced time from submission to publication Reduced time spent on administration Provides a database of referees and authors Version control of revisions Sophisticated reports and data analysis The system allows the author to not only submit their article online but to electronically track the entire review process. The benefit for the editorial office of the journal is that once the system is set-up and running it has the potential to greatly reduce administration and to automate the correspondence with authors, reviewers and the publisher. The overall benefit is of course that the time from submission to publication, for successful articles, can be reduced. A recent survey by the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) found that for 64% of journals using online submission systems the refereeing time decreased. Speed of publication is of course amongst the top concerns of authors.

The editorial office May be based at the publisher, the society, the editor’s department or their home Manage the peer-review process: Receive and acknowledge manuscripts Identify and track down referees Send to referees and get reports back Inform authors of decision Liaise with the production manager to manage corrections and ensure on time delivery of the issue Obtain assignment of copyright or grant of exclusive rights to publish Process publication or colour charges As well as the online system, there is of course also an actual editorial office behind every journal. This may be based at the publisher, at the society, the editor’s department, or even at their home. Staff at the editorial office undertake such functions as receiving and processing the submissions, managing the review and corrections process, and liaising with the production manager at the publisher to make sure the issue is ready and out on time. In addition, they liaise with the author for the Exclusive License to publish, rather than the assignment of copyright. Nowadays authors retain the copyright over their work whilst assigning the rights to publish.

The role of the Editor Gatekeeper of quality for the journal Rejects low quality or inappropriate articles outright Selects reviewers for the article From editorial board From a specially built-up database By looking at the authors of the cited articles Might be staff employed by the journal Not usually known to the author Makes final decision to publish or not Allocates papers to issues, orders papers within issues Commissions reviews, editorials, special features The Editor is not normally an employee of the publisher and is usually an academic in the field of the journal who is fitting the journal in around his or her research, teaching and practice. Journals can have more than one editor. Co=editors, or editors handling papers representing different disciplines or geographic regions. Group of editors of equal status, or an Editor in Chief with a group of Associate Editors. It is the journal editor themselves who holds the key role and acts as the gatekeeper of quality for the journal. The editor will typically reject a number of articles on receipt, either because they’re of a poor quality or because the research does not fit in with the aims and scope of the journal. They will then select appropriate reviewers for the article drawn either from the editorial board, from a database of reviewers, or by choosing other known specialists in the field. The reviewers are generally not known to the author, called ‘blind reviewing’, although some authors claim to be able to guess who the reviewer is based on the comments that come back to them! Following exchanges between the author and the editorial office, the editor takes the final decision as to whether to publish the article or not and allocates it to an issue.

The impact factor Measures how frequently a journal is cited by other journals A way of quantitatively comparing journals Calculated by dividing the number of citations in a year (e.g. 2006) by the source items published in that journal during the previous two years (e.g. 2005 and 2006) Other quality measure include usage data and readers reports Most journal editors measure their success at improving the journal’s quality through the Impact Factor which measures the frequency of citation of the paper. There are of course other, arguably better, measures of success such as usage data and readers reports. However, it is the Impact Factor that has become the standard by which many journals are measured and can indicate the impact that the title and its authors have on others in its field. By calling upon the experience and best practice of a professional publishing house the editor can work towards raising its Impact Factor. We have found that journals which moved from other publishing arrangements to Blackwell in 2001 increased their impact factor by around 22%, according to the 2004 Science Citation Index. This is the due to the work we undertake with the editorial office to attract the right authors, to build more readers and citations, and to create a clear direction for the journal which will improve its overall quality.

The Production Process Taking the accepted article through to publication online and in print Functions of the production department So, once the editor has approved an article for publication, what happens next? At this stage, the production team at the publishing house tends to take over the management of the process. This will either include copy-editing and proofreading the article, or liaising with freelancers to do this. Copy-editing involves ensuring that the text adheres to the journal style, checking the consistency of text, tables, figures and references, and, in some cases, language editing is necessary. Mistakes and ambiguities that can convey the opposite of what is meant are also picked up at this stage. The stage is essential to ensuring the legibility and integrity of the article and its elements. Detailed copy-editing, and subtle improvements to the content at this stage can have a very beneficial impact on the readability of the article, and the reputation of the journal and author.

Electronic files received Article edited and typeset Proofs checked Corrections made and checked Article published online before issue compiled Article ready for publication Issue compiled Issue published online The article is then moved on to be type-set. This involves coding the electronic file in XML for page composition and for linking. It is a fairly complex process where the individual elements of the text are tagged in accordance with the DTD, or document type definition. The DTD is a generic specification governing all content that we publish. The text structuring process ensures that each document conforms to this specification so that the data elements can be recognized electronically. This level of granular tagging enriches the functionality of the text and facilitates navigation around the text and linking to external databases. Also, because the format complies with international standards, the articles have a great archival potential than those produced by word processors or desktop publishing software which use proprietary file formats and will always require a suitable reader to ensure continued accessibility. The typesetter, publisher and author spend a considerable amount of time checking and rechecking the page proofs to ensure that everything is correct when it is finally published. The finished articles are then made up into issues and print-quality PDFs and sent to the printer electronically, along with the journal jacket files and any advertisements or extra inclusions. Printing usually takes 5 to 10 days and is often now normally outsourced to printers in Asia, ready for shipping to subscribers from there. Issue printed Issue dispatched

Online journal publication Publisher platforms: Wiley Interscience Blackwell Synergy Oxford Journals Science Direct Springer Link Informa World Aggregators and gateways: HighWire Ingenta Ovid Table of Contents alerts Searching and browsing HTML for onscreen reading PDF for printing As well as preparing the article for print publication of course the article is also processed for the web. Because this is generally quicker than the full print production, it is now quite common for the article to be published online before print. For example, 180 Blackwell journals now use the OnlineEarly service which has posted 9000 articles on the web before print so far. Similarly, Wiley have the OnlineFirst service, OUP have Advance Access and Springer have Early View. The article is given a Digital Object Identifier vital for ensuring that it will have a persistent identity on the web and can always be found through citation links. The CrossRef organisation which allows for forward and backward linking across journals operates entirely through these DOIs. Blackwell Synergy Full-text HTML and PDF format Powerful Boolean search engine Reference Linking – to databases, archival stores and content published elsewhere Access 24/7/365 – IP, Athens Passwords, Remote access from home etc. Acts as an archival centre for Blackwell content and provides access to back issues as well as current issues Usage Data justifies expenditure and influences purchasing decisions Personalised homepages with E-TOC’s, saved searches etc E-Commerce for Pay-Per-View (especially popular with Corporate customers)

Getting the article to the right readers Communications with the scholarly community to make the publication known Search engine promotions Linking through abstracting and indexing services Email table of contents alerts Marketing at conferences, etc. Publishing expertise Licensing access to libraries Many more libraries with access through consortia deals 400% increase in the number of titles in libraries for an additional 15% cost So, finally, the article is published! Is that it now? Is the job of the publisher done? Not at all. A major part of the dissemination of scholarly research, or at least the part which will make a real difference to society, is to make sure it’s known about, available to, read and cited by the research community to which it is relevant. Publishers, journal editors, and the authors themselves play a major role in ensuring that the article reaches the right audience. Librarians, of course, also play an important part here, in building their serials collections and promoting awareness within their institutions to faculty, students and researchers. At Blackwell we employ a range of activities to ensure that research articles reach their communities. For a start, our Collection licensing over the last few years has massively increased the audience for every journal. The latest version of the UK JISC survey of journal usage shows that half the usage by the 16 sampled libraries was of Collection titles for which they had no individual subscription. Collection deals have increased the number of titles available to any library by an average of 400%, have enabled to download twice as many titles, and all for a cost of around 15% of their existing subscriptions. In addition, the large and ongoing investments that publishers have made in technology, such as Synergy, has been a key factor in getting content to a wider audience. Other techniques include; working with search engines to ensure maximum page 1 rankings; links with abstracting and indexing services like Medline; email table of content alerts; targeted communications to scientists; displays at conferences; communications to librarians, etc. Typically the routes to an article are many and varied and reflect the particular subject area and the circulation make-up of the journal. Only by getting a research article to the right researchers can it really make an impact.

The Purchasing Process: Print Agent P P P Library P P In a print environment Subscription Agents have traditionally handled the Library/Publisher relationship Purchasing was subscription focused on a journal by journal basis Library sent subscription orders to the agent Agent forwards orders to all relevant publishers Publishers either despatch issues directly to the library Or they send them back to the agent who consolidates all orders before sending onto the library The agent receives invoices from all the publishers and then adds these up and sends one invoice to the library for the total amount

The Purchasing Process: Electronic Libraries are now working together… To save money To buy in bulk To negotiate better terms and conditions Consortia Purchasing Groups of Libraries (Local, Regional, National) “The big deal” Print plus electronic or e-only More content, more information Libraries are now approaching publishers directly… To save money - Agents Charge. Organising themselves into consortia and purchasing groups to negotiate larger discounts To buy bundles of electronic journals - one publisher can provide access to over 1000 journals Consortia Purchasing Groups of Libraries (Local, Regional, National) Local – Madroño Consortium (Madrid) Regional - OhioLINK National - Iceland “The big deal” Access to all titles

Print vs Electronic Blackwell Publishing The move to e-only… December 2004 Print plus electronic: 91.7% E-only: 8.3% December 2005 Print plus electronic: 86.8% E-only: 13.2% September 2006 Print plus electronic: 79.27% E-only: 20.73%

Print vs Electronic What’s stopping the move? Archiving Would one or more trusted archive accelerate the trend towards e-only? Tax Increased VAT on Electronic content is slowing down the move from print to e-only Users are still demanding Print Is this the case in your institution?

Print vs Electronic The move is possible… Pharmaceutical Company Closed all libraries globally Now purchasing e-only based on usage Saved +20% of budget Now running a “virtual library” No cost for physical sites Lower staff costs Used savings to off-set increased tax Used savings to acquire new content Concerns regarding Archiving, Tax and the existing demand for print are no longer there!

Summary - Harnessing Technology Electronic Workflows Speeded up publication processes Author Submission Peer Review Production Distribution e.g. Blackwell Synergy Electronic Content More content is available to more users Subscriptions Collections Pay-Per-View Usage Based Pricing Open Access E-only Purchasing Subscriptions Consortia Pay-per-view Electronic Workflows Author Submission Peer Review Production Distribution

Summary The Business of Journal Publishing Publishing companies Embracing technology to improve… Content creation Content management Content delivery Ongoing support Journal Publishing is evolving Provision for search and retrieve culture Providing information on demand Increasingly moving away from print (as primary version) Alternative publishing models Author pays (Open Access) Institutional repositories (Open Access)

Thank you! Michael Davis Senior Account Manager Wiley - Blackwell michael.davis@wiley.com