The Transition to Electronic-Only Format: Costs and Considerations

1. The Transition to Electronic-Only Format: Costs and Considerations UKSG April 5, 2006 Roger C. Schonfeld Ithaka

2. The Largest Publishers • Many large publishers have already “flipped the model” to principally electronic, with print as an add-on • Pricing has evolved to mitigate the effects of print cancellations on the bottom line • Site licenses, with tiered pricing • This is characteristic not only of the major commercial science publishers, but of several large not-for-profit publishers as well • How have large publishers successfully made this transition?

3. Scholarly Societies and University Presses • Some journals still do not have an electronic presence. • When electronic versions have been developed, costs are not always tracked separately for the different formats, making it impossible to develop pricing that makes them format-neutral. • Although net surpluses are not unusual, neither are losses, and existing business models cannot readily accommodate the cost of significant print cancellations. • Why have the smaller publishers been slower to make a transition away from print than have the larger publishers?

4. A Library Incentive: Lower Costs • For libraries, unit nonsubscription costs are many times lower for electronic format as compared with print format. • A powerful incentive to move from print to electronic. • Even better, to de-duplicate multiple-format collecting. • Vast increases in the number of journals available at many small and medium institutions.

5. Economies of Scale as Incentive: for Libraries and Publishers? • The nonsubscription print activities of medium and large academic libraries can achieve significant economies of scale • Declining print subscriptions will raise nonsubscription unit costs substantially at the larger libraries • As print collections shrink, will libraries be motivated to move away from print altogether?

6. Journals without an Electronic Version Today • Because of library demand, it is inevitable that scholarly journals will have an electronic version, even in the humanities, area studies, and social sciences. (Unclear if this is so for books.) • Smaller publishers may benefit from partnerships, via such collaborations as Project Muse, BioOne, and HighWire, or by outsourcing to a commercial publisher, each with its own set of tradeoffs. • Disciplinary repositories, institutional repositories, blogs, or other less formal distribution models, may offer yet other types of solutions.

7. What about Journals that Haven’t “Flipped”? • Publisher business models must be updated to accommodate a transition away from print to electronic-only distribution. • University presses and scholarly societies have the largest adjustments to make. • A business model revamped to accommodate the transition may often result in a significant price increase for the electronic format. • Libraries should respond with empathy, else they may unintentionally punish lower-price publishers. • Will pressure for Open Access have a disproportionate effect on the small journals that also need to adapt to an electronic environment?

8. The Process Itself for a Library • This process will take place whether or not it is managed strategically. • It is often far more politically palatable to cancel print versions as a tactical retreat in the face of budgetary pressures. • A chaotic retreat from print will almost certainly not allow libraries to realize the maximum potential cost savings, whereas a managed strategic format review can permit far more effective planning and cost savings. • This reflects my understanding of the American context and may be less applicable in the UK: I would like to learn more.

9. Electronic Archiving • New accessions are not “owned” by libraries in a licensed electronic environment, displacing many of the traditional incentives and roles for preservation. • Formal arrangements may be of greater importance for electronic archiving than they ever have been for print. • In a strategic format review, can some of the nonsubscription savings be redirected towards dedicated funding streams for electronic archiving, resulting in a net cost reduction?

10. Print Archiving • In an environment of large-scale digitization, the cost to hold print versions locally may become greater than the benefit. • Should incentives be developed to ensure the survival of appropriate print artifacts? Can they be developed? • Are more formal frameworks needed to ensure the survivability of “legacy” print collections?

11. Three Takeaways • We should consider with greater care how traditional society and university press publishers will make a transition to an electronic-only environment. • A strategic format review, by an individual library or by groups of libraries, has significant advantages over a chaotic transition. • Archiving must not be forgotten, for both electronic and legacy print collections.

12. The Transition to Electronic-Only Format: Costs and Considerations Roger C. Schonfeld Ithaka rcs@ithaka.org +1 (212) 500 – 2338