Competition is a wonderful thing. 18 months ago who ever would have thought that there was room for a general chemical journal? Then back in April along came Nature Chemistry and won some applause (sometimes mainly for its colour ). It was noteworthy since chemical journal publishing is dominated by two large society publishers (the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Chemical Society), and it was also a new direction for Nature Publishing Group.
Now I receive news from the Royal Society of Chemistry of another new journal: Chemical Science will apparently be dynamic, unique, and a leader. It will provide
A dedicated home for findings of exceptional significance from across ALL the chemical sciences. In a break with tradition, the journal will give authors the freedom and flexibility to publish more extensive accounts of their novel research without page restrictions
It is due to launch in 2010, with free access for existing RSC customers for the first one or two years.
Am I too cynical in seeing this as a response from the old guard (RSC) to the new chemical kids on the block (NPG)?
Too cynical? Is there such a thing 😉 ?
In a recent post you talked about honing and assessing existing subscriptions- you may have mentioned this there, but how do you factor in the launch of new journals?
Sabbi – no, I didn’t mention new journals there but I did write about them last year .
My basic approach is to ignore them if at all possible. If they are bang in the middle of our field of interest, from a reputable publisher and I get requests from senior staff then I will have to do something about subscribing. The worst thing I can do is subscribe blindly and just be storing up more dud titles to be cancelled at the next subscription review.
It is interesting how the change from print to online and the change in business models (i.e. more big deals) have changed how publishers launch new journals. Quite often now they make a new journal available free for the first year or more.