More on the Information Access Alliance opposition to the Kluwer-Springer merger....The Alliance has just released a white paper, Publisher Mergers: A Consumer-Based Approach to Antitrust Analysis, by Thomas Susman and David Carter. From the executive summary: "Over the past two decades, increased concentration in the publishing industry has
been accompanied by significant escalation in the price of serials publications, eroding libraries' ability to provide users with the publications they need. Nowhere does this seem more troublesome than in the market for scientific, technical, and medical (STM) journals and legal serial publications where pricing, as well as marketing practices for electronic publications, threaten library budgets and ultimately the widespread availability of important writings to the public. In this paper, the Information Access Alliance (Alliance) describes the issues that have emerged as the industry has become increasingly concentrated and advocates for a new standard of antitrust review that we urge be adopted by state and federal antitrust enforcement agencies in examining merger transactions in the serials publishing industry. The Alliance strongly encourages a shift in the paradigm for analyzing mergers among publishers of STM and among publishers of legal serial publications toward a more consumer-focused approach. When reviewing proposed mergers, antitrust authorities
should consider the decision-making process used by libraries --the primary customers of STM and legal serial publications-- to make purchasing decisions. Only then will these mergers be subjected to the degree of scrutiny they deserve and adequate access be preserved."
Posted by
Peter Suber at 6/24/2003 07:15:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
