Présentation réalisée à l'occasion du 35ème congrès de la Society for Scholarly Publishing à San Francisco.

1. Cairn.info
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Cairn.info
A mutualist approach to release francophone
publications in Human and Social Sciences
SSP Annual meeting – Thursday 6th, June 2013

2. Cairn.info
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Context
 An atomized publishing landscape
 With a strong attachment to French language
 Where boundaries between purely scholarly journals,
general interest titles and professionnal ones are blurred
 Composed by small and medium-sized public structures
as well as independent privates ones
 Whose economy is globally jeopardized by the decline of
reading and the disappearance of traditional bookshops

3. Cairn.info
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Cairn.info - Genesis
 A platform : www.cairn.info
 Spurred on by 4 Belgian and French publishers
 Joined in by the BnF (French national Library)
 Supported by the French Culture Department
 Focused on journals as a first step
 With 3 main principles

4. Cairn.info
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1. Open to all publishing structures

5. Cairn.info
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1. Open to all publishing structures

6. Cairn.info
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2. Agnostic in terms of access conditions

7. Cairn.info
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3. Focused on most current publications
 Generally from 2001 onward
 Without any embargo period
 Each issue proposed in XML / HTML and PDF formats
 Progressively implementing crosslinking policies with other
platforms distributing publications in French:
 Gallica
 Persée
 Revues.org
 Etc.

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Following steps
2010: Proceedings
(1.000 currently)
2011: Pocket Encyclopedias (1.600 eBooks)
Magazines (8 titles)
2012: Monographs
(1.000 currently)
So far, 4.000 eBooks currently available on Cairn.info

9. Cairn.info
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T+8 Situation
50 K visits per day
1.300 K visits per month
35.000 K consultations in 2012

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T+8 Situation

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T+8 Situation
109
32
341
6
138

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T+8 Situation

13. Cairn.info
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T+8 Situation
Overall average price
(300 journals): 9 K€ / 12 K$

14. Cairn.info
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T+8 Situation
Group 1
Local consortium /
Large French-speaking univ.

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T+8 Situation
Group 2
Non French-speaking univ.
Small French-speaking ones
Group 1
Local consortium /
Large French-speaking univ.

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T+8 Situation
Group 1
Local consortium /
Large French-speaking univ.
Group 3
Developping
countries univ.
Group 2
Non French-speaking univ.
Small French-speaking ones

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T+8 Situation

18. Cairn.info
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What’s currently at stake? (1/3)
How to enhance the visibility of French publications in the non-
French-speaking world ?
An English interface to help a non-French-speaking scholars to browse,
research and discover efficiently content proposed on Cairn.info
Revised and systematized metadata in English (TOC, abstracts)
Full translations of remarkable currently released works
Launch of this interface in Chicago, at the ALA Conference

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What’s currently at stake? (2/3)
What future for the « Big deals » ?
A model that enables simplicity and equity of access, be it from the
user, the librarians or the journals / publishers’ perspective
But a decreasing acceptance by libraries, in reaction to un-balanced
pricing policy of some global publishers
Which weighs on the development of new offers
A paradox if you consider that by setting limits, libraries aim at
fighting against the excesses of an oligopolistic market

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What’s currently at stake? (3/3)
How French publications in Human and Social Sciences can face the challenge
of Open Access ?
Very limited « upstream » funding
A Long-tail effect in publications lifecycle

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Articles lifecycle in Human and Social Sciences
Consultations in institutions accessing Cairn.info (S1 2012)
0,00%
5,00%
10,00%
15,00%
20,00%
t-1 t-2 t-3 t-4 t-5 t-6 t-7 t-8 t-9 t-10
17,90%
13,55%
12,08%
9,51% 9,50%
8,24% 7,78% 7,43% 7,30% 6,72%

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0,00%
5,00%
10,00%
15,00%
20,00%
t-1 t-2 t-3 t-4 t-5 t-6 t-7 t-8 t-9 t-10
17,90%
13,55%
12,08%
9,51% 9,50%
8,24% 7,78% 7,43% 7,30% 6,72%
Articles lifecycle in Human and Social Sciences
Consultations in institutions accessing Cairn.info (S1 2012)
Articles published during the last 12 months
= 18% of interest in subscribing institutions

23. Cairn.info
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0,00%
5,00%
10,00%
15,00%
20,00%
t-1 t-2 t-3 t-4 t-5 t-6 t-7 t-8 t-9 t-10
17,90%
13,55%
12,08%
9,51% 9,50%
8,24% 7,78% 7,43% 7,30% 6,72%
Articles lifecycle in Human and Social Sciences
Consultations in institutions accessing Cairn.info (S1 2012)
Article « half-life » on Cairn.info = 3.5 years

24. Cairn.info
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Articles lifecycle in Human and Social Sciences
Consultations in institutions accessing Cairn.info (S1 2012)
Weight of articles published during the last 3 years
according to disciplines

25. Cairn.info
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What’s currently at stake? (3/3)
How French publications in Human and Social Sciences can face the challenge
of Open Access ?
Very limited « upstream » funding
A Long-tail effect in publications lifecycle
Potential side effects on non-scholarly journals and books

26. Cairn.info
Chercher : Repérer : Avancer June 6, 2013
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What’s currently at stake? (3/3)
How French publications in Human and Social Sciences can face the challenge
of Open Access ?
Very limited « upstream » funding
A Long-tail effect in publications lifecycle
Potential side effects on non-scholarly journals and books
Open to any model that may 1. fund publications’ quality
2. in a sustainable way and 3. guarantee their independence

27. Cairn.info
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thomas.parisot@cairn.info