From:   NCF::OKERSON      29-MAR-1991 10:47:35.01
To:     AMES::"PACS-L@UHUPVM1.Bitnet"
CC:     OKERSON
Subj:   Elsevier/Pergamon

Chicago, Il.  In case this has not yet made PACS-L, the major scholarly
publishing news of yesterday was that Elsevier has negotiated to buy
Pergamon Press.  This announcement filtered through the publishing community
after lunch Thursday and is detailed in reports in Friday morning's national
press (Wall Street Journal,TIMES, Post, Chicago Tribune, etc).

Excerpts from WSJ:

$764.9 million dollar sale
"would reinforce the position of Amsterdam-based Elsevier as the world's
biggest publisher of scientific journals, a highly profitable niche."
Elsevier proposes "substantial investments in electronic delivery of
scientific information over the next decade."

It appears that the combined serials output of Elsevier will be some 1100
largely sci-tech journals.  The second-largest publisher in the arena is also
European:  Springer with over 300 titles.  Had this merger occurred inthe
U.S., there is the sense that anti-monopolostics representations would be
being made in an effort to halt the sale.

The discussions have been occasionally mentioned in the Financial Times.
AGAINST THE GRAIN (College of Charleston) reported  this in its 2/91
issue.  Since then, the players appear to have been Reed and Elsevier.
The discussions are apparently concluded with the announcement made public
yesterday, 2/28/91.

Ann Okerson/ARL
OKERSON@UMDC.Bitnet, or OKERSON@UMDC.UMD.edu