---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 20:11:05 -0500
From: Albert Henderson <NobleStation@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: Cost of the Journal of Molecular Structure & others (Jeanette              Skwor)

On 23 Nov 1999 Jeanette Skwor  <skworj@UWGB.EDU> wrote:

Subject: Cost of the Journal of Molecular Structure & others

> For those of you with access to the online edition of the
> _Chronicle of Higher Education_, the following article may
> be of interest.  You do need to be a _Chronicle_ subscriber;
> you will be asked for your institution's login and password.

> Basically it says a team of ten librarians from leading
> research universities have taken aim at the one journal
> specifically, in the war against the high price of commercial
> journals in the sciences, targeting the academicians that edit
> the journals. They cite the "padded contents" of this
> particular title and the fact that it has an "unimpressive
> impact factor" regarding citations by fellow scholars.
>
> An interesting turn in the ever ongoing war on pricing, methinks.

The Chronicle also quoted the journal's editor, a Texas A&M
chemistry professor, who said, "The librarians would do well
to talk to people who are scholars, because their basic
arguments are flawed." (XLVI,14:A24. Nov. 29)

I agree with the editor. The major challenge to researchers
is the growth and scattering of useful information. The
answer is secondary publications, such as bibliographies
that are specialized and inclusive. (cf Herring. C. Distill
or drown. PHYSICS TODAY 21,9:27-33. Sept. 1968)

On-line databases are not available to everyone, as the
editor points out. Perhaps more important, they require
special skills and determination. Some scientists cannot
retrieve their own articles by keyword! (J. Hallmark.
COLLEGE & RESEARCH LIBRARIES. 55:199-209. 1994) A good
bibliography with a narrow, sharp focus may be a far
better solution for current awareness than even SDI
services that require a profile of soon-to-be obsolete
buzzwords.

The inclusion of conference papers is also very much in
the interest of the audience for a specialized journal,
since considerable research is never "published." The
editors who attended the 1997 conference on peer review
made it clear that they admit a bias against publishing
negative results. (JAMA 15 July 1998). The conference
also included a study (not the first) indicating
considerable research activity aired at conferences is
never reported in a journal. While researchers cannot go
to every meeting, they can read and pick up the phone.

Bibliographies, conference papers, comments, abstracts,
and other news items typically not cited will dilute
the impact factor. But then, information scientists have
always cautioned that use of the impact factor by itself
is unwise. If I recall correctly, a warning is posted
right in the front of JOURNAL CITATION REPORTS.

News is valued by serious researchers, even if it may
be considered ephemeral by archive-minded librarians.

In another interesting turn in the ever ongoing war on
pricing, the same issue of the CHRONICLE OF HIGHER
EDUCATION, revealed the huge profits of private
universities. (A44+) Using its data, I determined that
39 Research Universities' profits were up 4 points,
about 25% of revenues -- at the expense of library
spending and research productivity I believe. I note
two ARL universities with hundreds of millions of
dollars in profits chose to cut their library
spending last year ...

Albert Henderson
Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY
<70244.1532@compuserve.com>