Open Access Could Lead to Cancelled Subscriptions
From Research Information, Dec 2006 / Jan 2007:
A study of 400 librarians has found that the length of the embargo period before material becomes open access, and whether peer-reviewed versions of articiles are available, are key determininants in a librarian’s deision to maintain or cancel journal subscriptions,
The study was conducted by the Publishing Research Consortium (PRC). The founding partners of PRC are The Publishers Association (PA) of the UK, the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM). Corresponding partners include The Association of American University Presses and the Professional / Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers.
In sounding a potential alarm, the PRC site goes on to say:
This study raises questions about previous claims that librarians will continue to subscribe to journals, even when some or all of the content is freely available on institutional archives.
Read the full study.
PRC News Release, Nov. 9, 2006
