Hi David, On Monday, April 1, 2002, at 05:26 PM, David Goodman wrote:
The solution for a publisher is obvious: it should publish good journals, and only good journals. A publisher complaining about the threat of OAI suggests that it knows very well that the quality of its journals cannot compete.
I don't really think that is universally the case. APS certainly has good quality journals, but we are still vulnerable to not being able to continue to publish the journals in the face of large cancellations. And there has been a steady decrease in subscriptions (for many reasons, over the last 30 years). It is an economic and financial reality that we don't have much wiggle room. We would also like to make our journals more widely available (ideally freely available). But we need a new model and it is very difficult for a single publisher to move unilaterally without support from institutions, fund agencies, and libraries. Thus, there is a reason for concern and it isn't irrational to worry about the transition to a new economic model. That doesn't mean the transition shouldn't take place though. Cheers, Mark
