MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY and THEOLOGY

My credentials

Academic, philosopher

Editor of a small scholarly journal

My project

MPAT’s transition to a new publishing model

Independent, online, open access

What do you think of the state of scholarly publishing in your discipline and how did your project address that?

What impact has your publication and its new mode had on scholars in your field?

What publishing services do you think scholars in your field need?

MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY and THEOLOGY

Small

Editorial staff = me

Subscriptions < 500, individuals < 100

Submissions/acceptances = 50/10

NicheDefined by its historical/disciplinary coverage

Non-sectarian, not narrowly historical

JHP, HPQ, Archiv für geschichte der philosophie

Modern Schoolman, New Scholasticism

Medieval Studies, Speculum, Vivarium

Distinguished

HistoryFounded in 1989-90, vol. 1 = 1991

Vols. 1-4: annual, Univ. of Notre Dame Press

Vols. 5-11: semi-annual, Cambridge Univ. Press

Vol. 7 (1997): online

Vols. 12 ff: the new model

Independent/Online/Open Access

Why change models?

CUP wanted to terminate:

CostToo few subscriptions

Non-conformityIrregular MS flow

Publication delays

Why the new model?

Short answer:

Independence: we don’t have to conform to external constraints

Online and Open Access: we can best meet everyone’s needsJournalAuthors ReadersBroader scholarly (academic) community (including libraries)

Why independent?

No need to conform to external expectations:

with regard to revenues

with regard to structure

Why online?

Flexibility

We can publishhow much we want

when we want

We can pre-publishannounce acceptances (webpage & RSS feed)

make pre-publication MSS available

Ease

Why open access?

Duh!

Best meets needs of everyone

The journal

It’s easyno subscription management

little copyrights management

Authors (scholars who publish in MPAT)

• don’t publish for profit

• publish to record and disseminate their research

• publish to participate in discussion

• publish to advance their careers

Readers (authors + scholars/students)

• want access (easy, instantaneous, unrestricted)

• want tools (search within and without)

Dear Prof. Scott MacDonald,

I am Ph.D. student at the Department of Philosophy at Hertzen State University (St. Petersburg, Russia) and I am interested very much in your journal Medieval Philosophy and Theology, but unfortunately I could find none copies at the libraries and book-shops of Russia. That is why I would like to ask for some sample issues. No doube that your journal would be useful for my own research and further publications. I would be also glad to became an authror of your journal.

Cordially yours,Dmitry Olshansky------------------------------------Dmitry A. OlshanskyP.O. box 16, St. Petersburg cityRussia 198261e-mail: Olshansky@hotmail.comweb: http://olshansky.sitecity.ru

Broader scholarly community (including libraries)

• want to be able to use or provide access

• want control of expenses

Potential Difficulties

Costtransition

continuing operations

Visibilitygetting lost on the web

Profiledistinction (including tenure, promotion)

Getting from there to here

Needs

Server

Technical expertise

Money

Meeting the needs: Cornell Library

Cornell Library server

Center for Innovative Publishing (CIP)

Technical expertise

Digital Publishing System (DPubS)

Money

Faculty Grants for Digital Library Collections

$5,000

My own resources

Avoiding the Difficulties

Costtransition

continuing operations

Visibilitygetting lost on the web

Profiledistinction (including tenure, promotion)

What do you think of the state of scholarly publishing in your discipline and how did your project address that?

What impact has your publication and its new mode had on scholars in your field?

What publishing services do you think scholars in your field need?

http://cip.cornell.edu/mpat

www.medievalphilosophyandtheology.org

http://cip.cornell.edu

http://dpubs.cornell.edu