Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Wednesday, January 07, 2004

"Electronic science: a license to print money"

David Mort, Science makes money for Europe's information companies, Research Information, Winter 2003, pp. 13-14. (Not yet online but soon to be here.) A summary of the 2003 profits, margins, acquisitions, and shifts to electronic publication and bundling at the major journal publishers. In the TOC of this issue the editors plug the article with the line, "Electronic science: a license to print money". Excerpt: "[R]estructuring, cost-cutting programmes, and improved operating efficiencies should boost industry margins compared to last year." (PS: Despite the rosy forecast, this is pre-Paribas, pre-Citigroup, and pre-Investec. Unlike other recent financial analysts, Mort doesn't even mention open access, let alone try to take its progress into account.)