Jenny Hogan reports in the latest issue of Nature on some of the issues surrounding the resignation of the editorial board of K-Theory, a Springer Journal. A few exerpts follow:
The events centre on Anthony Bak, a mathematician at the University of Bielefeld in Germany and until recently managing editor of the Springer journal K-Theory. Bak left the monthly journal, due, he says, to production problems and a too-high subscription rate. He has arranged to launch a rival title with another publisher that has offered a lower subscription rate, in the process shedding some editors unhappy at how the shift has been managed.
The cover date of the last issue of the supposedly monthly K-Theory was April 2006. Bak has withheld all papers accepted by the journal since then — a situation that not all of the editors, or the papers’ authors, seem to have been aware of until recently.
Journal costs and pricing are serious concerns to academics, mathematicians and librarians alike. It is unfortunate that editorial boards, publishers, librarians, and faculty find themselves embroiled in tough situations such as these. It is a very sad commentary on modern dissemination of scholarly research.
For the entire article, go to: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v448/n7156/full/448846b.html
Citation:
Nature 448, 846-847 (23 August 2007) | doi:10.1038/448846b; Published online 22 August 2007
Journal presents a mathematical conundrum
Jenny Hogan
The Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) recently entered into an agreement with the Institut Henri Poincaré (IHP) to print, distribute and market Annales de l’Institut Henri Poincaré (B) Probability and Statistics (AIHP). IHP will maintain full ownership, copyright and editorial control of the journal. The partnership allows both organizations to achieve greater economies of scale with their journals.
Jim Pitman, IMS President, added, “The IMS is very pleased to be able to offer another high quality journal at a reasonable price. Subscribers can expect to see the price for AIHP fall significantly in 2008. In addition, authors will acquire new rights to post copies of their articles on their homepages and in open access digital repositories. We see this as an improvement for all involved with the AIHP: authors, libraries, IHP, and now the IMS.”
AIHP is currently distributed from the Elsevier conglomorate. We will monitor the affect to our subscription and access to back issues and keep you informed.
For more information: http://imstat.org/news/default.htm#aihp
Math and science journal publishing is undergoing significant changes such as editorial boards resigning en masse, new journal starts and the issues swirling around open access. A wiki site has recently been established to help keep track of some of these events as they relate to math and science journals. MathSciJournalWiki is a freely-editable resource for information on scholarly journals, especially in mathematics. It aims to be a central resource for understanding the journal system, both in its academic and economic aspects.
Be sure to bookmark it and check in regularly. I intend to.
http://www.sunclipse.org/eigenpedia/index.php/Main_Page
