The future of Transfer

Alison Mitchell, co-Chair, Transfer

Unpleasant surprises…

“Where’s the journal I paid for?”

Common complaints…• 91.4% of librarians surveyed* feel that the transfer of journals between

publishers causes them “very” or “fairly” significant problems• Almost 50% of respondents spend a lot of time amending serials management

systems and internal records as the result of a transfer• The area where the highest percentage of respondents said they have often

experienced problems was “subscription information” (delays in data being transferred to the new publishers, intermediaries not being informed)

• When asked to list the two most significant transfer issues that cause them problems, librarians mainly cited access to current content and the time required to amend their systems.

• Access to archives/backfiles, big deals, and pricing were also cited

*ICOLC/Transfer survey, May 2011164 respondents65% North America, 14% Europe, 14.5% Asia-Pacific

Problems for publishers too• Publishers were surveyed* in their roles as both ‘Transferring’ and ‘Receiving’

Publishers• The area where the highest percentage of Transferring Publishers had often

experienced problems was in the transfer of subscriber information. Over 70% of respondents sometimes or often had problems in this area

• Many Transferring Publishers did not know whether there had been communication with a large number of third-party organisations, including A&I services and link resolver companies

• The areas where the highest percentage of Receiving Publishers had often experienced problems were the receipt of subscriber information and content files

• 55% of Receiving publishers grace online access to existing subscribers for one month or more

• 60% of respondents did not have a central coordinator responsible for overseeing the transfer of journal publishing arrangements

*Transfer survey, June 2011151 respondents34 commercial publishers; 8 NFPs; 16 societies; 7 university presses

We prescribe…

• A voluntary Code containing best practice guidelines for both Transferring and Receiving Publishers

• Established in 2006, Version 2.0 launched in September 2008• Endorsed by 36 publishers, including Elsevier, Wiley, Springer, T&F, OUP, T&F,

Wolters Kluwer, Sage• Transfer alerting service – 378 registrants (mainly librarians), 215 transfers

announced to date

• www.uksg.org/transfer

Key areas treatedFor the Transferring Publisher and the Receiving Publisher:• Access to the title: Includes ensuring continued access to customers where

the Transferring Publisher has granted perpetual access rights • Digital content files — current (born digital) and archive (digitized from

print), if available: Covers transfer of digital files • Subscription lists: Covers early transfer of the subscription lists and an

outline of subscriber data types• Journal URL: Covers transfer of journal-related domain name(s) and

provision of a link or redirect to the new journal home page Communication: Covers communication to customers (including electronic table of contents alert recipients) and relevant intermediaries

• DOI name ownership: Covers changes to Digital Object Identifier (DOI) name ownership

Does it work?• By registering as Transfer compliant, publishers agree to abide – where

commercially possible – by the terms of the Transfer Code• Librarians and societies are increasingly asking for Transfer compliance in

their licensing and contractual arrangements with publishers• Various other reports and initiatives are citing Transfer’s work and

recommending compliance (JISC Collections, RIN)

But…• It’s hard to give the Code more ‘teeth’, as we must be careful to avoid

anticompetitive practices• A recent informal list serv poll identified ongoing issues, some

involving Transfer-compliant publishers

So, what’s next?• Transfer Working Group – 8 publishers, 5 librarians and 6 others – meets

every 2 months• New co-Chairs for 2011, Elizabeth Winter (Georgia Institute of Technology)

and Alison Mitchell (Nature Publishing Group) • 2011 priorities:

– Revision: Revise and update the Code– Education: Educate the main constituencies (librarians, publishers and societies)

about the problems and priorities of the others– Database: Update the Transfer Alerting service and use the data to populate a

searchable database of transfer information

Revision of the Code Some of the areas that are under consideration (not explicitly covered in Version 2.0,

or in need of updating):

• Recommend use of the Transfer alerting service and new database?• Suggest changes that publishers can make in the event of a transfer to ensure that the

articles are still discoverable by search engines?• Consider including guidelines about redirecting apps and social media sites (eg

Facebook, podcast archive)? • Transfer of email alerts – there may be data protection issues, but at a minimum the

Transferring Publisher might contact the registrants and give a link for future sign-up at the Receiving Publisher’s site?

• Transferring Publisher to identify and pass on information about existing discovery services and link resolvers?

• Preservation-related registries - Transferring Publisher to make it clear whether content will stay as part of an existing arrangement?

Education – who needs to know what?• Publishers

– Need to understand the effects of transfers on librarians, and the steps that they can take to mitigate or remove these effects

– Central coordination of transfer activities helps with communication– Better understanding of what links resolvers are and how they are used– Encouragement to endorse Transfer actively

• Societies: – Need to understand the above, and also to ensure that the terms of their

contracts with the Transferring and Receiving Publishers are consistent and workable

• Librarians: – Briefing on the complexities of data transfer– Briefing on the transfer process – why do transfers happen mid year? Why is there

often so little time? Where can they look for information?

Database and enhanced alerting• JISC funding has been approved for the ETAS (Enhanced Transfer Alerting

Service) • MIMAS will host and run the service as part of JUSP (Journal Usage Statistics

Portal)• Initial design work is under way, and the project is expected to be completed

by the end of October 2011• Transfer-compliant publishers complete a simple form, which is circulated by

e-mail and the details are automatically entered in to the database

• In the mean time, librarians or publishers can sign up for the Transfer alerting service at: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/TRANSFER

Our publishersALPSP

American Diabetes Association

American Institution of Physics

American Psychological Association

Berg Publishers

Biomed Central

Brill Publishers

Cambridge University Press

Co-Action Publishing

Earthscan Publishers

Edinburgh University Press

Elsevier

Emerald

European Respiratory Society

Future Science

GUD Publishing

IOP

IOS Press

Liverpool University Press

Manchester University Press

Nature Publishing Group

Oxford University Press

Palgrave Macmillan

Pier Professional

Portland Press

Royal Society of Chemistry

Rural Sociological Society

Rockefeller University Press

Sage Publications

Society for General Microbiology

Springer

Symposium Journals

Taylor & Francis

Walter de Gruyter

Wiley Blackwell

Wolters Kluwer Health

Please join us!Please help us!

www.uksg.org/transfer

a.mitchell@nature.com