I have long thought that scientific societies should allow immediate free Web access (IFWA) to the articles in their journals so long as they could do so without negative fiscal consequences.
Here I report that revenues from library subscriptions to Florida Entomologist have _increased_, even though the Florida Entomological Society (FES) has facilitated immediate free Internet access to its contents since 1994. First some background: In May 1993, FES decided to experiment with free Internet access to its long-published (1917-) refereed journal. In November 1994, with the advent of the free Acrobat reader, FES succeeded in posting a current issue on Gopher. Because its authors and members liked free access and because providing it cost very little, FES continued its free Internet offerings and enhanced them (http://www.fcla.edu/FlaEnt/). It also carefully monitored library subscriptions to Florida Entomologist, in case lose of library revenues would force FES to charge for its new service. [FES expects its journal to pay for itself, but does not require that journal revenues subsidize other member services.] Library subscriptions to Florida Entomologist declined a total of 4.9% from 1994 to 2000. That may be well below average for scientific journals. It is indeed less than the decline in library subscriptions for the four principal journals of the Entomological Society of America (ESA), which dropped a total of 21.9% from 1994 to 1999. (Until this year, ESA made none of its articles freely Web accessible.) Revenues from library subscriptions to Florida Entomologist did not decline between 1994 and 2000 because FES increased the price of library subscriptions by 25% (from $40 to $50). The revenue enhancing effect of this increase was mostly negated by a 16% increase in the Consumer Price Index. Nonetheless, in constant dollars, FES's revenues from library subscriptions were 2.5% greater in 2000 than in 1994. Libraries are apparently reluctant to drop journals to which they have long subscribed. Therefore scientific societies can give away IFWA and not risk sharp declines in library subscriptions. With even less risk, scientific societies can sell IFWA at a very attractive price to those authors who want it--and make money by doing so. Tom Walker ========================================================================= Thomas J. Walker Department of Entomology & Nematology University of Florida, PO Box 110620, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620 E-mail: [email protected] FAX: (352)392-0190 Web: http://csssrvr.entnem.ufl.edu/~walker/tjwbib/walker.htm =========================================================================
