If You Build It, Will They Come? Experience with Journal Backfiles at

HighWire Press

ACS Annual Meeting13 September 2006

Helen Barsky AtkinsStanford University, HighWire Press

hatkins@stanford.edu

Overview:

• Very brief review of HighWire Press• Approaches to retrospective conversion• Business models• Some data to share

– Several anonymous journals– JBC

• Some possible explanations for these data

• Questions for future study

www.highwire.stanford.edu

HighWire Press• The Internet Imprint of the Stanford University

Libraries• Our Mantra - “HighWire Press is:

– Not for profit– Not for loss– Not for sale”

• Online Host/Service Provider for Non-profit and Society Journals

• Currently - 964 journals from 140 Publishers

HighWire Press

• One size does not fit all publishers• Some hosts may impose consistency

across journal sites– Look and feel– Features and functionality– Business model

• HWP allows publishers to make their own decisions - we provide support, but remain neutral

HighWire Press

• Publishers may choose to adopt the standard HWP look and base feature set

Or • They may customize their site design and

choose to implement many advanced features

And• They decide what to charge for their content,

as well as what content to charge for

Retrospective Content

• Publishers decide:– Extent of the data to convert

• back to volume 1? include supplements?• previous titles? previous series?• how to deal with splits and mergers?

– What material to include • cover-to-cover? research articles only? • editorial material? advertising? meeting abstracts?• HTML reference views?

– How much to charge - if anything• sell as part of current subscription?• one-time purchase?• benefit of society membership?• free to all?

Retrospective Content

• This is a huge investment for the publisher…

• Is there any evidence that the data will be used?

• By more than the limited number of historians of science? Or authors looking for their old papers?

Questions

• Does the introduction of the retrospective content seem to have an impact on the general use of the site?

• How much use does the retrospective content get?

• What proportion of the total content use on the site currently is attributable to retrospective content?

Some Preliminary Data

• Six journals that launched sizable retrospective conversion projects in 2004 or earlier

• Usage data over seven years’ time (1999-2005)

• Four of the journals have made the retro content free to all

• Two of the journals offer the retro content by a separate subscription

Some Preliminary Data

• Terminology:Use = views of content on the site

Abstract = Abstract views

Full text = HTML full text + PDF views

Retrospective Content for Free

• J1 – Two releases of retro content

• May, 2003 >40 volumes/ 20 years• June, 2004 >100 volumes/ 80 years

– First published in the late 19th C.

In 2005, 31.5% of avg monthly usage was attributable to retro content

Retrospective Content for Free

• J2– One release of retro content

• March, 2003 • 37 years

– First published in the mid 20th C.

In 2005, 28.8% of avg monthly usage was attributable to retro content

Retrospective Content for Free

• JBC – Two releases of retro content

• June-Sept, 2001 15 years/15 vols• Feb-Aug, 2003 75 years/254 vols

– First published in 1905

In 2005, 11.7% of avg monthly usage was attributable to retro content

Retrospective Content for Free

• J5 – Three releases of retro content

• Sept, 1999 20 years abstract data• March, 2003 20 years full text• Jan, 2004 20 years full text

– First published in mid-20th C.

In 2005, 25.0% of avg monthly usage was attributable to retro content

Retrospective Content for a Fee

• The next two journals offer their back data for a one-time subscription fee to institutions, and as part of the current subscription for individuals

• J3 is an research biomedical journal with a backfile extending to the middle of the 20th C.

• J4 is a smaller review journal with a backfile extending to the early part of the 20th C.

In 2005, 22.4% of avg monthly usage was attributable to retro content

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2003 2004 2005 est. 2006

PPV Transactions for Retro Content - J3

In 2005, 10.5% of avg monthly usage was attributable to retro content

What’s Happening Here?• If these articles have been cited by other

journals hosted at HWP, then we are creating reference links

• If the new full text articles have equivalent Medline records, then LinkOuts are added (applies only to 1966+)

• Most publishers are opting to assign DOIs to retrospective articles, and these are deposited at CrossRef, making them available as reference linking targets

• Many of these publishers participate in the ISI Links program, and so there are links added from WoS - and Century of Science

What’s Happening Here?

• The publishers are marketing the new content– Special “perspectives” articles– Anniversary celebrations

• Announcements highlight the availability of new content for – Open URL linking– Search engine indexing

Did We Answer the Questions?

• Yes, it looks like adding back content may have an impact on overall site use, but we cannot make any claims regarding a causal relationship

• Yes, the back content is getting used, and more than it would be if it were merely a curiosity

Did We Answer the Questions?

• Free retroJBC – 11.7%

J1 – 31.5%

J2 – 28.8%

J5 – 25.0%

• Fee-based retroJ3 – 22.4%

J4 – 10.5%

• Use of retrospective content accounts for a varying proportion of the site’s current content use:

What’s Next?• Will the availability of the retrospective

content change the journals’ citation patterns?

• Will authors be more likely to cite the original works rather than review articles?

• More data to come…– Over 250 retro projects completed for HWP

journals– 170 in the past year alone