Tim,



Thanks for this.



That kicker has me thinking – perhaps this whole current landscape, with APC coverage available through major & mostly commercial journals’ subscription packages, is leading to an author’s propensity to pick those journals over society journals and smaller publishers, further diminishing their ability to draw the good abstracts from authors.  I doubt I ‘m the first to formulate this problem, but I wonder if there is any effort to combat this, to keep it from driving publishing choices over the coming years?  I’d hate to think our system will accelerate this divide with our efforts.



Cheers,

Marty

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Martin J. Brennan, MLS

Scholarly Communication Education Librarian

Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA

Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575

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From: Scholarly Communications CKG <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Timothy Vollmer

Sent: Wednesday, June 7, 2023 8:17 PM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: [SCCKG] [article] Transformative agreements and their practical impact: a librarian perspective



https://insights.uksg.org/articles/10.1629/uksg.612



FYI, it's related to our occasional discussion on impacts of transformative agreements on library workers on the ground. It seems that—unlike our situation at UC—the Swedish librarians have a fairly hands-on role in verifying authors and approving articles to be covered by their transformative agreements. There is some overlap in tasks, particularly around author education and helping answer questions about TAs.



The article also discusses ongoing challenges we may see here at UC (at least a bit): "We suspect that researchers tend to choose a corresponding author who is affiliated to a university where the APC is prepaid" (I assume meaning an institution which provides APC coverage under a TA).



And the real (disturbing?) kicker: "We have noticed a shift in researchers' questions from 'which journal is the best for my article to get published in' to 'where could I publish my article without having to pay an APC'?"



Tim





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Timothy Vollmer

Scholarly Communication & Copyright Librarian

University of California, Berkeley

Doe Library, 189 Annex

Berkeley, CA 94720

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