Subject: for the list: a question for the editors of the new topology journal From: David Pengelley Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:28:00 -0700 (MST) Nick wrote: > Something I have wondered about ... Have the libraries at the schools (Stanford, Oxford, etc.) of the editors who resigned from Topology and became editors of the Journal of Topology dropped their subscriptions to Topology? I'm paying a lot of attention to trying to achieve shifts like this with my library. It is not so easy, however, because Elsevier (and other publishers') journals are often part of a package contract or consortium contract. For instance, when I tell my library to cancel Topology and start subscriptions to less expensive journals using the funds saved (e.g., AGT, GT, J. of Topology), they can't directly do this, since Topology is part of a big package. My library is currently assessing serials university-wide, and one thing they may do is play musical journals with various departments, i.e., pick up another Elsevier journal in a different discipline by cancelling Topology, and use some cancellation in that area to purchase new math. journals. Our libraries are struggling with being somewhat trapped by publisher packages. However, if we tell them what we want, they'll try to achieve it. As our library liaison, I'm trying to cancel journals of low cost effectiveness and pick up new journals, often produced by non-profits, that are cost effective. One very sobering piece of information is for the library to tell us how many actual article downloads occur per year here compared with what they're paying for that access. For some journals, we are effectively paying hundreds of dollars per article downloaded. Argh, does this make sense? On another note, I wonder what the future of the journal Topology is. Is Elsevier actually trying to find a new set of editors? Best David