The Strategic Marketing of Science, Technology, and Medical Journals: A Business History of a Dynamic Marketplace, 2000–2020

Description

This book analyzes the various economic and marketing strategies utilized by the five major STM commercial scholarly journal publishers since 2000. This period has witnessed tremendous economic, marketing, and technological growth including the migration from a print only to a hybrid publishing format. With this growth, the industry has also seen the rise of open access publishing, copyright challenges by websites such as Sci-Hub, the emergence of sharing platforms such as ResearchGate and Academia.edu, as well as the impact of Plan S on publishers, universities, and authors. Given this incredible rate of change across the industry, the author explores the diverse strategies and structures created by the largest STm publishers to decipher their effectiveness in addressing technological, ethical, and copyright issues. Also, he examines how mergers and acquisitions diversified operations, such Elsevier's acquisition of Bepress, SSRN, and SCOPUS, among other platforms. Scrutinizing the different managerial, marketing, technology, and economic-financial strategies crafted by scholarly journal publishers between 2000-2020, this book offers a comprehensive assessment of the industry's attempts to identify, understand, cope with, and minimize or defeat the herculean threats to its business model. Acknowledgments Disclaimer Contents List of Tables 1 Preface The Key Research Questions and the STM Journal Sector Why Were STM Journals Selected for Analysis? The Years 2000–2020 Methodological Theories Conclusion Notes 2 Introduction to History and Development of Scientific, Technical, and Medical [STM] Journals Definitions The First Two STM Journals and the “Butterfly Effect” STM Journals After Sallo and Oldenburg Why Did the Number of STM Journals Grow After 1939? Post-World War II Developments The Need for Reliable Metrics to Evaluate Scholars and Research Developments 1977–1999 Conclusion Notes 3 The State of the Scholarly Journal Publishing Industry in 2000 STM Journals in 2000 Data on Higher Education, Faculty, and STM Degrees in 2000 The Number of Library Holdings, Research and Development Expenditures, and the Number of STM Journals STM Paid Subscription Prices in 2000 Profit and Loss (P&L) Statement for “Representative” Printed and Digital STM Journals in 2000 Researchers Analyze Journal Costs and Profits Conclusion Notes 4 The Impact of Disruption: 2001–2012 The Scientific, Technical, and Medical Sector: Strengths The STM Sector: Opportunities and Competitive Advantage The STM Sector: Concerns About the Costs of STM Journals Preprints and Megajournals The STM Sector Confronts Piracy and “Shadow Libraries” Conclusion Notes 5 The Impact of Legal, Intellectual Property, and Copyright Infringement Issues: 2000–2022 Intellectual Property: Definitions and Legal Origins in the U.S. U.S. Patents Trademarks and Servicemarks Trade Secrets Copyrights: 17 U.S.C. Copyright Infringement and Piracy The Size and Scope of Piracy and Copyright Infringement IP Copyright Litigation in the U.S. Sci-Hub Conclusion Notes 6 The Responses of the Major STM Journal Publishers: 2013–2020 Basic Business Metrics The Average Paid Subscription Price for Printed STM Journals The Average Paid Subscription Price for Digital Online STM Journals Criticism About Journal Publisher Profits The Movement Toward Open Access Journals Plan S and Open Access The Response of the U.S. Government to the OA Movement STM Publishing Confronts a Series of Exceptional Events The STM Publishing Responses to the Problems Confronting the Industry Conclusion Notes 7 The Future of STM Journals Student Enrollments The Future of Scholarly Research and Publishing The Rapid Movement Toward Open Access The Impact of APCs Predatory Publishing Gender Disparity in STM Publishing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STM Publishing Learned Societies, Academic Libraries, and the Future of STM Publishing ChatGPT, Artificial Intelligence, and the Rise of the Machines Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index