University of St Andrews, UK.
Hist Sci. 2022 Jun;60(2):255-279. doi: 10.1177/0073275321999901. Epub 2021 Mar 18.
In the decades after the Second World War, learned society publishers struggled to cope with the expanding output of scientific research and the increased involvement of commercial publishers in the business of publishing research journals. Could learned society journals survive economically in the postwar world, against this competition? Or was the emergence of a sales-based commercial model of publishing - in contrast to the traditional model of subsidized journal publishing - an opportunity to transform the often-fragile finances of learned societies? But there was also an existential threat: if commercial firms could successfully publish scientific journals, were learned society publishers no longer needed? This paper investigates how British learned society publishers adjusted to the new economic realities of the postwar world, through an investigation of the activities organized by the Royal Society of London and the Nuffield Foundation, culminating in the 1963 report . It reveals the postwar decades as the time when scientific research became something to be commodified and sold to libraries, rather than circulated as part of a scholarly mission. It will be essential reading for all those campaigning to transition academic publishing - including learned society publishing - away from the sales-based model once again.
在第二次世界大战后的几十年里，学术团体出版商努力应对科学研究成果的不断扩大以及商业出版商越来越多地参与研究期刊出版业务。在这种竞争环境下，学术团体期刊能否在战后世界实现经济生存？或者，销售型商业出版模式的出现——与传统的期刊补贴出版模式形成对比——是否为改变学术团体常常不稳定的财务状况提供了一个机会？但也存在着生存威胁：如果商业公司能够成功地出版科学期刊，那么学术团体出版商是否不再需要？本文通过调查伦敦皇家学会和纳菲尔德基金会组织的活动，研究了英国学术团体出版商如何适应战后世界的新经济现实，这些活动最终促成了 1963 年的报告 。它揭示了战后几十年是将科学研究商品化并出售给图书馆的时期，而不是作为学术使命的一部分进行传播。对于那些希望再次将学术出版（包括学术团体出版）从销售型模式转变的人来说，这将是必读之选。
