For many years Eurosla has been pubslishing the proceedings of its conferences. Since 2001 they have appeared as a Yearbook published by John Benjamins, which can be considered one of our most outstanding achievements. Eurosla Yearbooks are now an authoritative series in SLA, containing much valuable and original research and promoting the association’s image as a whole. However, the Yearbook does not seem to have the dissemination it deserves. Apart from members, who automatically receive a copy, very few others can access its contents: in 2006 only 26 copies were sold, plus 45 library subscriptions.
This is why the association’s committee would like to open a discussion among members concerning a possible alternative – publishing the Yearbook as a free, online publication. Nowadays there are several online publishers who can print and ship a paper version, that can still be distributed to members and purchased online through the publisher’s website or online bookstores.
The committee offers the following points as a very preliminary and informal brainstorming, to stimulate a more informed discussion among members.
Some facts
Current prices (with Benjamins)
members: 22 eur
non-members: 100 eur + shipping
fee for downloading one chapter: about 30 eur
Prices with online publication (based on www.lulu.com, one of the first and most established online publishers; others can be considered)
online edition: free
printed edition: 8.50 eur + shipping (2 eur)
A copyright fee, decided by Eurosla, can be asked for both online and printed versions.
Costs related to publication currently covered by Eurosla
Editor’s fee = 1500 eur
Purchase of 270 copies at 22 eur = 5940 eur
VAT + shipping costs = 706 eur
Total = 8146
Costs related to online publication
Editor’s fee = 1500 eur
Additional copy-editing costs = 500 eur
Purchase of 270 copies at 8.50 eur – 6% discount = 2157 eur
shipping costs = 540 eur (it is not clear whether we need to pay VAT)
Total = 4697
Reasons for paper publication with a commercial publisher
- Well-established, relatively easy to follow procedures.
- Professional copyediting and typesetting.
- Distribution through traditional channels (catalogues, online and traditional bookstores, conferences).
- Publisher’s prestige - in some university systems this might make a difference in selection and promotion procedures.
Reasons for free online publication
- Ease of access. Everybody would be able to access our publications immediately and for free. Readers interested in single chapters can download them without having to pay for the entire volume or going to their library to make photocopies. This would increase dissemination of our work and its citation. Open access online publications in the life sciences have among the highest impact factors in their fields: PLoSs Biology’s IF is 14.1, making it the most cited journal in the field; PloS Medicine’s IF is 13.8. A further criterion to assess a publication’s impact is counting the number of web contacts, a measure going beyond traditional impact factors (for a discussion on this see the 2006, 3 (6) editorial on the Public Library of Science Medicine Journal (http://medicine.plosjournals.org).
- Lower costs. The electronic version would be downloadable for free; a printed and bound version ordered from an online publisher would cost about 8.5 euros. This means that, by buying the printed version, members would save 14.5 euros, non-members 91.5. Eurosla as an association would save about 3500 euros a year.
- Electronic articles can be supplemented by appendices, tables, data and analyses, thus increasing reliability and replicability of results.
- Accessibility of good quality research to individuals and institutions in coutries with limited economic resources.
- Eurosla and the authors retain the rights and control of the Yearbook and single chapters for an unlimited period of time. This means that in the future we can opt for other publishing solutions or for other online publishers, and that the yearbooks will be easily available for consultation regardless of the publisher’s or even the association’s fate.
- Several funding bodies now require that scientific work published with their grants be freely available.
- Electronic articles are easier to store and can be saved by the thousands on hard disks or pen drives.
- Electronic articles are more environment-friendly, as they don’t use paper and ink.
- There are no limitations due to maximum page number. This does not imply accepting everything or lowering standards, but if one year there is a high number of good quality submissions they can all be published immediately, without postponing some of them to the following year’s issue.
- Hosting the online version of the Yearbook would increase visibility of Eurosla’s website and of the association as a whole.
back to publications | back to home
