Presented by:

Paul M. Evans PhD MBA MA(Oxon)Vice President (Elsevier Science & Technology, China)Based in Elsevier’s representative office, Beijing and in Oxford, UKe-mail: p.evans@elsevier.com

The Publishing Cycle, Greater China developments, copyright and

publishing etiquette

Top institutes & Universities, Greater China 2004

Overview of presentation

• I Journals and STM Publishing • II Journal development and peer review

process• III Authors: journal selection and

publishing with Elsevier• IV Some new developments in STM

Publishing• V Elsevier and Greater China• VI Copyright and publishing etiquette

First Scientific Journal

• 6th March 1665 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

Ed. Henry Oldenburg Secretary of the Royal Society

• first true scholarly journal…servicing a community.!

Functions of the journal

• Registration ‘date stamping & set precedent’• Quality assurance through peer-review• Archiving the definitive versions of papers• Dissemination to targeted scholarly audience

• Achieved via management of the “journal title” and associated qualities for researchers: key role of the publisher

0.8

1.2

1.6

1980 1985 1990 1995Year

Ind

ex

(19

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=1

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) R&Dworkers

journals

articles

Growth in Journals tracks number of Researchers

[Source: NSF and ISI Data]

STM Industry Overview

• 2000+ publishers

• 12000 journals

• 1 million papers/year

• 1 million authors/year

• 10+ million readers

• Thousands of sub disciplines served

• Institutionally based– Universities– Medical schools– Research

organisations– Government

laboratories– Corporations

STM Publishers add value through…

• Independence• Acting as a neutral third party• Final guarantor of quality• Active management of editors and editorial

boards• Provide fundamental journal functions

Elsevier journal activities

• Each year publishes…– Around 1800 peer-reviewed journals,

including many society-owned titles (available at desktop via Science Direct)

– Approx. 2500 monographs, reference works, and text books

– Abstracting and Indexing Databases (e.g. Ei’s EV2 and Compendex, EMBASE), structure databases etc.

• …in virtually all areas of research

JOURNALEditorialOffice

AGENT

LIBRARY

PUBLISHER

research community

author

referee

editor

reader

submission

proofing

finalized journal issuesaccepted mss

peer review process

II Journal development – the Publishing Cycle

The Peer Review process

• Overseeing peer review at journal level is a key aspect of the Editor-in-Chief role, facilitated by the publisher

• Papers submitted to a journal range from:- innovative, well researched, well written, asset to the field, to- unreadable or marginal papers or with poor English, to- (very occasionally) plagiarised work

• Editor-in-Chief assesses some papers himself, and also identifies expert referees to assess and provide recommendations regarding publication

Referee considerations when approached to review

CORE

PERIPHERAL

Reputation of journal

Experiences of journal as either referee or author

Slow turnaround

journals Impact factor

Acknowledgement

Feedback from editor

Publisher

Relevancy of paper

Editor influenceChannels of

communicationEngagement with

subject

Perceived importance of

paper

Deadline to complete review

What does the Publishing Editor do?• Editorial management

– monitor editorial office efficiency and efficacy• time for reviews, responsiveness to authors

– monitor key success indicators• copyflow, subscription levels, online usage, quality indicators (e.g.

citations, Impact Factor), author satisfaction

– monitor research trends• include where relevant: special issues, invited papers, conference

issues

– take action• does journal need to expand?• does editor need replacing?

Editor-in-Chief feedback

• Market Feedback:“what was quite apparent was the incredible thought

and effort Elsevier has been putting into monitoring and improving the quality of the journals with continuing author feedback, surveys etc.”

“I came away firmly convinced that the journals could not possibly be in a better publishing house. The Elsevier staff were all genuinely concerned about the health and well being of the publications and Societies that represent them”

Independent Journal Editors comments – Editors’ Conference, Washington DC, January 2004

III. Author priorities in journal publishing

Data from 49,566 Authors; 0= unimportant10= very important

Publishing with Elsevier – tools for journal authors

Commitments

• Publishing strategy – resourcing..publishing editors, editors-in-chief, regional editors

• Science Direct: $200 million invested by Elsevier

• Elsevier Editorial Services – electronic submission and systems support for the editorial/refereeing teams.. Roll-out and investment plans

IV Current trends in STM publishing

• Continued migration towards full digitisation, in response to customer requirements

• Further expansions in breadth and depth of access (Backfiles, Crossref, A&I linking etc)

• Continued increase in article usage accompanied by falling cost per article use

• Alternative Publishing Models including Open access developments (including author pays model)

About 1% of papers are OA: Quotes on OA / STM

“..Elsevier is keeping an open mind on open access…”

Sir Crispin Davis, Reed Elsevier chief executive

“….research-intensive places could likely spend more on OA than they

currently spend in the current system, while smaller ones will spend

a lot less and non-research institutions will have totally free

access…….” .“More to the point, I was able to appreciate the pricing

that many cost-effective publishers bring to us these days --

perhaps we in libraries seriously undervalue their contributions.”

Ann Okerson/Yale Library

Some Conclusions

• Elsevier is a professional publishing partner with the academic community

• STM journals publishing is developing in tandem with the research community

• Publishing supports community by investing and supporting in research dissemination, facilitating peer review, building editorial networks and author tools

• Plus other initiatives (HINARI [Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative], AGORA [Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture])

V. Elsevier in Greater China region

• By 2010 only USA will produce more papers with Elsevier compared to other countries e.g. UK, Germany, Japan

• Discussions underway with other prospective publishing partners in the region for books and other collaborations

• Tsinghua professors – (helping with 20 journals initially to help handle quality review for growing input ) ..keen to extend this programme to other institutes in the region to assist in helping authors get published and in developing quality

Elsevier – Greater China directions

• 1. Aim to maximise the quality content from Chinese scientists in our products and services

• 2. Develop our role to be the “preferred publishing partner” for scientists in the region…provide a good service

• 3. Expand usage of Science Direct to make our content more available in the region and more useful to connecting up scientists and their research agendas

Copyright issues and publishing etiquette

• Help in protecting copyright to ensure a sustainable model for publishing can continue (work in partnership with the community). Increase awareness of what copyright means to ensuring investments for STM publishing

• Help educate young authors on how to submit papers to the right journals and not to submit to multiple journals at the same time. Help prevent “salami” style publishing.

• Work together to stop plagiarism. Respect colleagues’ work and advances globally.

Finally…

• ..and let’s all stay idealistic while being pragmatic…STM publishing and journal management represent more than just another business…this industry helps support scientific advance and therefore human progress…..It is a privilege to be able to contribute to this in partnership with you, the scientists of the world! Thank you.