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- 1. Minimizing disruption during journal transitions An update on the TRANSFER Code James Phillpotts (Oxford University Press) UKSG Conference, March 2012
- 2. Session overview • A bit of context • About TRANSFER • Does it work? • Putting it into practice • Looking ahead to the future An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 3. Bright hopes & unintended consequences • A large number of journals transition to new publishers each year • Why does this happen? • Often following a decision by a society to switch from one publishing partner to another or cease in-house publication • Specialist publishing expertise • Improved electronic publication • Wider content reach • Strategic goals • Journal development An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 4. Bright hopes & unintended consequences • Unpleasant surprises Where’s the journal I paid for? An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 5. Bright hopes & unintended consequences Disappearing Extra Changed backfiles admin procedures Delayed access Interrupted access Wrangling over entitlements An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 6. Bright hopes & unintended consequences An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 7. Bright hopes & unintended consequences The ‘vulnerability’ of access to e-resources An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 8. Feedback from customers… Anecdotally librarians have drawn attention to the difficulties and frustrations they face with journal transitions … sometimes very publicly on the listservs! An ICOLC/TRANSFER survey in May 2011 sought to analyze these concerns further An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 9. Feedback from customers… May 2011 ICOLC/TRANSFER survey of librarians* Very Significance significant of problems 36% caused Fairly significant 55% *164 respondents: 65% North America, 14% Europe, 14.5% Asia-Pacific An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 10. Feedback from customers… May 2011 ICOLC/TRANSFER survey of librarians* Time spent on amending 47% records *164 respondents: 65% North America, 14% Europe, 14.5% Asia-Pacific An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 11. Feedback from customers… May 2011 ICOLC/TRANSFER survey of librarians* SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION 39.7% have often experienced problems MOST SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM AREAS • Access to current content • Time spent on amending records *164 respondents: 65% North America, 14% Europe, 14.5% Asia-Pacific An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 12. …and from providers too Publishers have also reported problems with the transition process (Quite apart from the attendant risks of disgruntled customers, bad press, and the possibility of cancellation!) A TRANSFER survey in June 2011 revealed a number of issues An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 13. …and from providers too June 2011 TRANSFER survey of publishers* TRANSFERRING SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION 28.9% have often experienced 71% problems RECEIVING SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION 30% have often experienced 80% problems *In both ‘transferring’ and ‘receiving’ roles. 151 respondents: 34 commercial, 16 society, 8 non-profit, 7 university press An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 14. …and from providers too June 2011 TRANSFER survey of publishers* 60% had no central coordinator many unsure of communications to key third-parties *In both ‘transferring’ and ‘receiving’ roles. 151 respondents: 34 commercial, 16 society, 8 non-profit, 7 university press An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 15. …and from providers too June 2011 TRANSFER survey of publishers* 55% grace access for 1 month or more 45% do not or were unsure *In both ‘transferring’ and ‘receiving’ roles. 151 respondents: 34 commercial, 16 society, 8 non-profit, 7 university press An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 16. What is ? • Established 2006 • Voluntary ‘best practice’ Code • Alerting service – over 400 registered recipients • Programme of presentation to different constituencies • Championed by a working group (8 publishers, 5 librarians, and 6 others) www.uksg.org/transfer An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 17. Publishers endorsing 36 publishers An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 18. Publishers endorsing An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 19. The Code of Practice • Currently in Version 2.0 (September 2008) • Six main areas: ‒ Access to the transferred title ‒ Provisions around digital content files ‒ Subscription lists ‒ Journal homepages – DOI name ownership ‒ Communication An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 20. Does it work? • Endorsing publishers agree to abide by the terms of the TRANSFER Code of Practice where commercially possible Remember: endorsement is entirely voluntary • Librarians and societies are requesting compliance • Other initiatives have cited and recommended • A useful framework for internal procedures and encouraging ‘self regulation’ by publishers An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 21. Does it work? BUT we have to avoid anticompetitive practices … BUT … and an informal poll alerted us to several issues (some involving TRANSFER-compliant publishers) An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 22. Putting it all together • Practical uses for TRANSFER » What can librarians do with TRANSFER? – Encourage publishers to endorse TRANSFER (if they don’t already) – Subscribe to the TRANSFER notification list (Details at www.uksg.org/transfer) – Use TRANSFER notifications in your e-resource work An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 23. Alerting service • Basic, but effective • Key information on transitioning titles from publishers • Named contacts, wherever possible • Email alerts generated and sent to subscribing recipients • Does not solve problems … … but gives a good ‘heads-up’! An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 24. Alerting service • Alerts intended for use by librarians • Email alerts give effective transfer dates • They can easily be saved and flagged • Information to update holdings and catalog links • Contacts provided for further information An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 25. Current developments Our work here is not done! – Educate – librarians – publishers – Update – societies – Improve An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 26. Spreading the word • Only effective when known and understood by stakeholders • Different stakeholders = different concerns • Working with organizations to promote TRANSFER • Developing guides for librarians, publishers and societies An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 27. Who needs to know what? Publishers • Impact on librarians – steps to mitigate • Central coordination • Communication • Endorse TRANSFER An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 28. Who needs to know what? Societies • As for publishers • Consistent contracts • Support TRANSFER An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 29. Who needs to know what? Librarians • Complex data • Explanation of the process ‒ Why are some mid-year? ‒ Why is there often little notice? ‒ Where do I look for information? An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 30. Information for librarians • Complex data needs to be transferred between publishers – Also from societies, subscription agents, content aggregators and other third-parties – Systems rarely fully compatible – Requires data to be extracted, analysed, formatted and reloaded – Takes time to get this right and ensure correct data maintained going forward An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 31. Information for librarians • Why are some mid-year? – Society decision cycles/timeframes – Titles on academic years – Inadequate timescales to avoid • Why is there often little notice? – Society decision cycles/timeframes – Contractual delays An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 32. Information for librarians • Where do I look for information? – TRANSFER notifications – Database on TRANSFER website – Endorsing publisher contact on TRANSFER website Publishers must communicate effectively! An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 33. Updated alerting service • Alerting service was basic and not very scalable • Updated to Enhanced Transfer Alerting Service (ETAS) – Improved information in alerts – Underpinned by a searchable database – Hosted by MIMAS as part of the JUSP – Continuing review and improvement ETAS is now live! An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 34. ETAS – search An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 35. ETAS – search results Receiving publisher Transferring publisher Journal details Transfer details Perpetual access An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 36. ETAS – submission form An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 37. ETAS – submission form An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 38. Future improvements Version 3.0 and beyond…? current topics of discussion • Further emphasize importance of perpetual access rights • Informing aggregators, subscription agents and link resolvers • Clear subscriber definitions for transfer An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 39. Future improvements Version 3.0 and beyond…? • Open Access content • Content online ahead of print • Access to usage data statistics • Manuscript tracking data and pre-acceptance content An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 40. Future improvements Version 3.0 and beyond…? • Continuation in abstracting and indexing services • Continued discoverability by search engines • Redirecting social media sites and apps An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 41. Future improvements Version 3.0 and beyond…? a glossary of all the terms! • Recipients of e-alerts • Formalize use of ETAS An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 42. Future improvements Version 3.0 and beyond…? Can we tighten the wording of the Code? How might we deal with issues of compliance? Commercial sensibilities … … ‘community altruism’! An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 43. Summary • Journal transitions are problematic – for publishers and librarians ! – we have the surveys to prove it… • is here to help – Code for publishers – alerts to keep librarians informed • Work still going on – educate publishers, societies, librarians – updated alerting service (ETAS) – future improvements… An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 44. Getting involved Sign-up & contribute! • Learn more about TRANSFER: www.uksg.org/transfer • Sign-up for the alerting service • Get in touch with the TRANSFER team – Alison Mitchell (NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP), co-chair – Elizabeth Winter (GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY), co-chair – speak to me at UKSG or email (james.phillpotts@oup.com) • And if you represent a publisher not yet signed-up … … talk to us about endorsing the TRANSFER Code! An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
- 45. Thank you for your interest and for helping us to help you! Questions? An update on the TRANSFER Code – James Phillpotts, Oxford University Press
Notes de l'éditeur
- Hello and thank you for coming to this breakout sessionMy name is James Phillpotts and I work on journal transitions at Oxford University Press.However, I’m speaking today in my capacity as a member of the Transfer Working Group.Transfer is a UKSG initiative aiming to ensure that disruption is minimized during journal transitions.The aim of this session is to provide some background to Transfer, give you an update on the latest developments, and explain what you can do to help us in our mission to make journal transitions as smooth as possible for all concerned!It would be great to have your feedback on Transfer’s work – so, as well as my presentation on this, I hope there will be questions and discussion to share on the topic of transitions at the end!
- I’ll start with a bit of context on journal transitions – and their consequences.I’m sure some of you will be very familiar with this – in which case this will be a quick update and refresher.For those of you less familiar with journal transitions, I’m going to talk about some of the real problems these can cause – and the need for an initiative to help tackle these!### I’ll then explain a bit about Transfer – what it is, who’s on board, and why it’s helpful to librarians and publishers.### We’ll also look at whether it works### and how librarians and publishers can put Transfer principles and recommendations into practice.### Then I’ll end up with a look ahead to the future for this initiative: the new alerting service that has been set-up, topics currently under discussion in the Working Group, and how you can benefit from and contribute to Transfer.
- I’d say the context is one of bright hopes and unintended consequences…A large number of journals are transferred each year (it’s very difficult to quantify this, but perhaps around a thousand)### and it is probably a bit of a mystery to some librarians as to why this happens at all!### The key driver is when an academic society decides to switch from partnering with one publisher to another, or (if they have had an in-house publishing operation) decides to cease this and begin a publishing partnership. This is the ‘bright hopes’ part of the context!People often talk about publishing being in a period of great change and (as part of that) becoming more competitive.By making a transition, the journal owners are hoping to keep pace with or – better – outstrip these changes; and the publishers are seeing opportunities in their involvement.### A transition brings with it a number of hopes:Engaging specialist publishing expertise.Improved electronic publication – to keep pace with our expectations of journal online content.Using a publisher’s scale to reach a wider audience.Perhaps to meet some strategic goals for the journal owners (maybe some more money!).Or to make use of publishers’ experience to help with development of the journal.
- Unfortunately, life is full of unpleasant surprises!### ### ### The worst in this context perhaps being for librarians### when paid for journal content suddenly seems to disappear!
- In fact there can be lots of problems for librarians resulting from a journal transition:### Your legitimate access to the title might be delayed### or lost completely### meaning there can be wrangling with publishers over which content you are entitled to access to.### A particular problem often relates to backfiles disappearing!### Inevitably there’s lots of extra admin around this### and there can be changed login or authentication procedures to set-up.
- At the publishers’ end there can be a number of causes to these problems:### Often it can be poor communication to subscribers and the wider academic community.### Differences in infrastructure and procedures between the publisher transferring the title and the receiving publisher cause big problems### and, often related to this, data being missing or scrambled is frequently the cause of access issues!### Perhaps the publishers are suffering from a lack of time to make all the necessary changes, or are not coordinating activities well;### and – quite fundamentally – there are the underlying competing or contrary motivations of the transferring and receiving publishers.
- All of which highlights the vulnerability of access to e-resources during these transitions – which can cause big headaches for everyone involved!
- That’s the anecdotal evidence – and librarians have frequently drawn attention to your frustrations### sometimes very publicly on listservs such as lis-e-resources!We wanted to get solid evidence of the real difficulties librarians face### so in May last year we teamed up with the International Coalition of Library Consortia to survey librarians on their concerns.
- We got 164 responses across all regions – but weighed towards North America.### The survey clearly showed that transitions have been causing big problems: 91% of respondents felt that the transfer of journals between publishers caused them ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ significant problems.
- Perhaps unsurprisingly then, nearly 50% said that they spent a lot of time amending serials management systems and internal records as a result of transfers.[Sectionsare ‘a lot’, ‘reasonable’, ‘a little’]
- and it was subscription information where the highest percentage of respondents said they had often experienced problems (so for instance, delays in the transfer of data or intermediaries such as subscriptions agents and knowledgebases not being informed).### When asked to list the two most significant problem areas, our respondents mainly cited access to current content and the time required to amend systems.But access to archives and backfiles, big deals, and pricing were also cited.
- Clearly you librarians have issues with journal transitions – but publishers aren’t terribly happy with them either!### (And that’s quite apart from the fact that they are upsetting their key customers, looking rather foolish, and possibly losing business…)### Again, we wanted to be clear on the issues, rather than relying on anecdotal evidence.So we followed-up the May survey of librarians with one in June aimed at publishers.
- I’ll go over these results a bit quicker…Just to note that we had 151 respondents, and where they indicated the nature of their business, the majority were commercial publishers (as opposed to self-publishing societies, not-for-profits, or university presses).### The area where the highest percentage of transferring publishers had often experienced problems was with subscription information### and over 70% ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ had problems in this area.### Subscription information was also the most problematic area for publishers receiving journals.30% said they often had problems### and 80% ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’!This clearly tallies with librarians reporting that they frequently had problems around subscription information![2nd most frequent area Receiving publishers often or sometimesexperienced significant problems in was the receipt of content files. Over 20% respondents often. Over 60% often or sometimes had problems in this area.]
- 60% of responding publishers did not have a central coordinator responsible for overseeing the transfer of journal publishing arrangements.### And, perhaps related to this, many (around half) of the transferring publishers did not know whether there has been communication with third-party organisations – including abstracting and indexing services, link resolver companies, and CrossRef (regarding Digital Object Identifiers).
- Good news was that 55% of the receiving publishers noted that they ‘grace’ online access to existing subscribers for one month or more following the transition to allow a period for records to migrate across.### Of course the related downside is that this means that 45% haven’t graced access for a month or more, or were unsure of this.
- So – with that background – what is Transfer?Perhaps we can have a quick show of hands of who had heard of Transfer before signing-up for this session?***### The Transfer initiative was established back in 2006.### At the core of Transfer is a voluntary Code containing best practice guidelines for both transferring and receiving publishers.### We also run an alerting service, communicating details of transitioning journals to over 400 registered recipients, mainly librarians.### There is an on-going, if informal, programme of ‘education’ and presentation to help different constituencies in the library supply chain better understand each other’s problems and priorities.### Transfer is developed and championed by a small Working Group, meeting once every 2 months. This currently consists of 8 publishers, 5 librarians, and 6 ‘others’ (including subscription agents and organisations such as CrossRef).### Our homepage is on the UKSG site – and is well worth a look for more information!
- Key to Transfer’s success is its support by academic journal publishers.Currently 36 publicly endorse the Code.
- These include the key big, commercial journal publishers### and others, both large and small.
- The Code of Practice itself is currently in a revised version 2, which was introduced in September 2008.### The Code covers 6 main areas:### Access to the transferred title – including ensuring continued access for customers where the transferring publisher has granted perpetual access entitlements.### Provisions around digital content files – spanning both current (which we often term ‘born digital’) and archival (that is, digitised from print) content – where these are available.### The tricky issue of subscription lists – covering early transfer of this information and an outline of subscriber data types.### Journal URLS – so the transfer of any journal-related domain names and the provision of links or redirects to the new journal homepage.### Changes to the ownership of Digital Object Identifier names.### And clear communications – to customers, relevant intermediaries, registered recipients of content alerts, and the wider academic community of potential readers.
- That’s a very quick overview of the current Code.But does it work?### The essential element is that by registering as Transfer-compliant, publishers agree to abide by the terms of the Transfer Code of Practice.But it is also very important to remember that this is### where commercially possible### and that endorsement itself is entirely voluntary.### Importantly, librarians and the academic societies which own journals are increasingly requesting Transfer compliance in their licencingand contractual arrangements with publishers – and we strongly encourage this.### Other reports and initiatives are also citing Transfer and recommending compliance.Recently these have included Guidelines on Society Journal Publishing transfers from JISC Collections in the UK, and a white paper on Electronic Resource Management by NISO (the National Information Standards Organization) in the US.### The Code also provides a useful framework for overhauling internal procedures and encouraging a degree of ‘self-regulation’ on the part of publishers.That is certainly my experience using it as the basis for the creation of transitioning title procedures and best practice at OUP!
- But – and unfortunately there is always a ‘but’!### It’s hard to give the Code more ‘teeth’ as we have to be very careful to avoid any anticompetitive practices### and a recent informal poll of librarians via the listservs alerted us to several on-going issues.### Frustratingly, some of these were involving publishers who have endorsed Transfer.This is obviously an area the Transfer Working Group needs to consider carefully and address going forwards.
- So, I’ve talked a lot about the details of Transfer and how publishers can sign-up to endorse the Code…Librarians in the audience might now be wondering how you can actually be involved in this…### What can you actually do with Transfer?### One really key thing you can do is to encourage any publishers you buy from who do not yet endorse the Code to sign-up!They can simply be directed to the Transfer page on the UKSG site, where there is information for publishers.### Be sure to subscribe to the Transfer notification list to receive email alerts on transitioning titles.Details are on our site.As you might expect, notifications on this list come in waves depending on the time of year!### And after you’ve signed-up for the alerts, you can use the notifications in your e-resource workflow to help manage the burden of admin around transitions…
- Alongside the Code for publishers there has been our alerting service specifically for librarians to sign-up for information on transitioning titles.### I think it’s fair to say that this service has been basic, but hopefully effective!Publishers provide key information on the transitioning title: who’s transferring and receiving; the title and ISSN; the effective transfer date; and other details.Wherever possible, named contacts for both publishers are also included.Email alerts are then generated and sent to subscribing recipients.Most recipients are librarians, but other key players (such as subscription agents and internet search providers) are also interested on behalf of their customers.Obviously this alerting service hasn’t solved problems…### but it has does give a very handy ‘heads-up’ that this might be a title to watch!This alerting service has done the job, but the information has been somewhat restricted and it is not a very scalable system.Significant improvements have just been made – which I’ll come back to shortly!
- As I just mentioned – this alerting service has been meant to provide a useful service for librarians.Can I see a quick show of hands if anyone in the room has been signed up to this?***### As each alert gives an effective transfer date they can easily be saved in email folders relating to transitions and flagged at the appropriate point.For example, a title transitioning in January may require your attention at the beginning of that month.Holdings and links in your catalogue can then be checked and updated from the information in the notification.And the inclusion of transferring and receiving publisher details means you have contacts who will be able to provide further information and details if you have any queries or concerns.
- It’s probably been pretty clear from this presentation so far that there is still a lot of work to be done to help reduce the problems caused by journal transitions, spread awareness of the issues, and ensure clear communications.I want to emphasise that the Transfer initiative hasn’t gone away and that the Working Group has every intention of continuing to develop and refine best practice in this area.We have three current priorities:### To educate the main constituencies### (that is librarians, publishers, and societies)regarding the problems and priorities of the others – through sessions such as this.### To update our alerting service to improve information available on transitioning titles.(We have recently made some significant changes to this!)### And to make necessary improvements, updates, and extensions to the Code.A lot of these are already under discussion and we are working towards a significantly revised version 3!
- On the point of ‘education’ – it is self-evident that Transfer can only be effective if its recommendations are known and understood by stakeholders in journal transitions.So we like to take opportunities such as this to brief diverse audiences and argue for wider uptake.### We recognise that different stakeholders in the transition process have different concerns and motivations.But the end goal of a smooth transition is key to everyone involved.### We are currently working with organisations such as the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) and JISC Collections to promote Transfer.### And we are also looking at developing guides covering the main concerns and learning points for the key constituencies of librarians, publishers and societies.
- There are some key knowledge points for these groups:### 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 transition activities can help with this### and improve clear communications.### Active endorsement of Transfer is of course to be encouraged!
- Societies### need to understand the same issues as publishers### and also ensure that the terms of their contracts with transferring and receiving publishers are consistent and workable.### Societies should also support Transfer### whether they are self-publishing or by using their influence on their publishing partners to push for this.
- And librarians### need to appreciate the complexities of data transfer### and have an explanation of why the transition process happens.In particular there are some key questions which have been raised repeatedly to the Transfer Working Group:### Why do some transitions happen in the middle of the year?### Why is there often little notice period that a transfer is happening?### And where can we look for key information?
- I’d like to briefly touch on each of these librarian-related points…### Firstly, the complex data that needs to be exchanged between the transferring and receiving publishers.This particularly relates to subscriptionrecords and accessrights.### As well as between the publishers, there is also a lot of data for the receiving publisher to obtain from societies, subscription agents, content aggregators and other third-parties.### Unfortunately the systems in which this information is held are rarely fully compatible and are often in fact proprietary, in-house databases.### This requires lots of data to be extracted from one system, analyzed, formatted for the receiving system, and reloaded appropriately.### Unsurprisingly, this takes time to get right and ensure correct data going forward.There are certainly possibilities during this process for errors to be introduced or some data elements to be lost...!
- So why are some transfers in the middle of the year?It has been suggested to us that there should be a ‘transfer window’ as in football to help stop this!However,### there are various causes:The decision processes and timeframes of the journal-owning societies may not fit with a calendar-year transition.Perhaps there is a key mid-year board meeting for such decisions to be made?This is certainly something for societies to be aware of with regard to minimising disruption for their titles if they are to transfer!Some titles (especially in the humanities) have volumes following academic rather than calendar years.There may be good practical reasons for transitions to follow that pattern.And sometimes there are simply inadequate timescales to avoid a transition happening mid-year despite good intentions to avoid this.### There is then the question of why there is often so little notice of transfers.### Again, this might be due to society decisions.The transition could be poised to happen, but communications remaining to be approved by society stakeholders.And this is often tied to contractual delays, as the receiving publisher and society agree on terms.Even with signed indications of intent, and some transition activities underway, formal communications may be delayed under such circumstances.
- Which leaves the fundamental question of where you can look for information on transitioning titles.### We’ve already looked at the email alerts and how these can be helpful.Also, do look on the Transfer site: our new database of information may be useful! I’ll talk about this further in a minute…Each endorsing publisher has a named contact on our site – use these details to contact the publishers involved and request more information if you need it.### All of this is to explain some of the problems publishers have with data and transition timings – but certainly nottoexcuse them from effectively communicating as far as possible regarding their transitions!If you have any examples of nasty transition surprises, please do let the Working Group know – you could talk to me afterwards – so that we can look into what we can do to furtherpromotebestpractice here…
- We looked at the alerts briefly earlier, and I just mentioned our new database in passing…The old alerting service served its purpose, but was basic and not very scalable.Enhancements were proposed for the service to make it more flexible.JISC funding for this was approved### and we have updated to an Enhanced Transfer Alerting Service, which (as it’s a bit of a mouthful!) I’ll refer to ask E-TAS!### You will find alerts from E-TAS contain more key information than the old notifications did.### Perhaps the most exciting part of the upgrade is that a searchable database underpins the service.This means that you will be able to go to the Transfer site and search for information on announced transfers – rather than having to hunt through saved listserv emails.### MIMAS, based at the University of Manchester in the UK, is a nationally designated data centre, and will be hosting and running the service on our behalf as part of the Journal Usage Statistics Portal.### Our intention is to continue to review and update this service to improve communications regarding journal transitions.### Excitingly, E-TAS is now live (as of 14 March) and I have a few screenshots to illustrate its functionality.
- This might be tricky to see, but this screenshot is of the search page for the database.It’s possible to search by text fields – so here the journal title or a key word – or also by ISSN.There are also some search tips explaining how to do logical searching (so ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘and not’) and to search using a wildcard (where you put in part of a word or term).It’s pretty self-explanatory on the page!
- And here’s a sample screenshot of a returned search result.Again, it’s probably a bit tricky to see, so I’ll quickly go through this.The search here was for the word ‘pediatric’ and it has returned one result (this was on the test system!).### At the top of the page are receiving publisher details, including a contact name and email address.### Under this are the details of the transferring publisher, again with handy contact information.### Then key journal details – the title, ISSN, society, etc.### And other transition details – covering title URLs, the effective transfer date and other special information.### Lastly we have a section specifically on digital preservation and perpetual access information.
- I’ll skip over details of how publishers enter all the relevant information…Suffice to say that we have made the form clearer both when entering basic information
- and more details including that archiving and perpetual access information.There are now tickable boxes or buttons rather than free text wherever possible, to keep the data consistent.And helpful pop-up tips next to the fields to explain exactly the information we are looking for.Hopefully this will mean more complete and useful information from publishers going forward.
- The E-TAS system is something we have already put in place as a development and improvement.But we are also actively discussing areas for inclusion as we work towards a revised version 3 of the Code – and beyond!I want to finish this presentation by giving you a flavour of some of the topics under discussion – how we are hoping to continueimproving the transition process for all parties concerned, and some of the issues or stumbling-blocks we come across in this.### The first key area we are looking at is further mitigating access issues.### Perpetual access rights have frequently been raised as a concern.We need to consider how we can further emphasise the importance of these.Hopefully having a clearersection on this in the E-TAS system will improve communications around this.### We also need to make sure that aggregators, subscription agents, and link resolvers are consistently informed.Our survey showed that not all publishers are clear on this!### And can publishers reach a clear definition of what constitutes a subscription – trickier than you might think! – and what information can be commercially reasonably transferred.
- A second key area is around content and data transfers### We need to ensure the Code covers the indication of Open Access content during transitions.### and that we are clear regarding content published online ahead of inclusion in an issue.### Access to usage statistics is currently mentioned in supplementary information to the Code.Should this be in the main body as a ‘best practice’?### And, one particularly for publishers to consider:How can we ensure information and pre-acceptance content in submissions and manuscripttracking systems are transferred effectively?
- Our third highlighted key area is around discoverability of content.### Perhaps more needs to be done to emphasise continuation in abstracting and indexing services.### Search engine providers have highlighted problems with maintaining discoverability in their rankings during transitions.We need to consider steps we might recommend to publishers to ensure that content doesn’t disappear from search results.### And as titles increasingly have related mobile apps and a social media presence, should the Code include guidelines about redirecting these?
- Our last key area to focus on for the time being is that of communications:### What can be done (within the constraints of data privacy laws) to help transition e-alert recipients?### Now that we have our new E-TAS database, should we formalise use of this within the Code?### Perhaps we should also include a glossary of all the terms to ensure endorsing publishers are clear on what is being asked of them!
- These are just some of the questions and key areas of focus in our current Working Group discussions.Which is all very well, but what about those cases where we have been made aware of continuing issues?### Can we tighten the Code to emphasise the expectation of compliance from publishers (commercial constraints aside)?### How might we deal with potential issues with lack of compliance or other complaints?Perhaps through neutral third-party arbitration?### In all of this, we need to tread carefully around commercial sensitivities…But it is also important to recognise that all parties have an interest in ensuring smooth transitions and we ### have a real chance to tap into publishers’ genuine sense of ‘community altruism’!
- And – on that more positive note – I’ll draw to a close.To quickly summarise what we’ve covered in this session:### We know that journal transitions are problematic…### That’s for both publishers and librarians – and we have the surveys to highlight the depth of the problems!### The Transfer initiative was set-up to help minimise disruption during journal transitions.### There’s the Code for endorsing publishers to follow and an alertservice to help communicate transfers to librarians.### And the Working Group is still actively pursuing work on Transfer.### We hope to educate and inform the three main constituencies of publishers, societies, and librarians about the problems each experience with journal transitions and how Transfermighthelp.### We’ve recently upgraded the alert service to be a fully searchable database.And we are actively working on further improvements to the Code in anticipation of version 3…
- If you are interested in getting involved – especially librarians – please go to the Transfer website### and I strongly recommend signing-up for the alerting service.### Please also feel free to contact the Working Group with any questions or suggestions.User input is what helps to make the service better!### The co-chairs of the Working Group are Alison Mitchell at Nature Publishing and Elizabeth Winter, librarian at Georgia Institute of Technology.Their contact emails are on the Transfer website.### Or come up to speak to me at this conference, or get in touch by email – that’s James dot Phillpotts at OUP dot com.### And if there’s anyone in the audience representing a publisher who’s yet to sign-up to endorse the Code – please consider doing so!Information specific to publishers can also be found on the Transfer site.
- Thanks for your interest in Transfer and for coming along to this session.I’d be very happy to take any questions now, or – even better – discuss any points you want to raise……or you can catch-up with me afterwards*** Great – thank you!