A math journal

"Journal of _______ __________" used to be fairly on track with publishing and it even used some creative chronology to get caught up. It appears that they have given up, though, and just are going to publish at their leisure. I just received v. 35 no. 3 2006. No note from the publisher inside or any sort of explanation saying something along the lines of "we are going to do ___X___ and hope to be back on track in the next __x___ months" or anything like that.

I feel badly for any professor awaiting publication of this one....! Can you imagine the CVs and resumes that say "forthcoming publication(s)" and having this journal on your list? A professor might have to wait *years* before being able to change it to the "published article(s)" category.

So, what happens to the next 4 years of chronology? I just sent a query email to the publisher. Stay tuned for further developments...!

Publishers and creative publishing

Just received some issues today in the mail and they had very entertaining notes with them.


One of them says, in part..."Enclosed you will find five issues of Journal...." and "It is our goal to get the journal on schedule....anticipating [this] in 2011." This journal, in contrast to some others I could name, is only 2 years behind schedule. That is not bad, comparatively speaking.


However, the other package and its contents was a bit of a shock..."...Journal of .... Studies is beginning anew with the publication of vol. 1, nos. 1 and 2 (2010)...new series...Our last issue was dated 2005...."! Now this one did not change numbering or issues per volume or anything else...the publisher decided to just start a new series instead of changing the cover chronology. Gee. This is going to make checking this one in a lot of fun!


And then there is the wonderful journal that changed its name and numbering altogether, again, for the 3rd time in 2 years! Thanks guys for thinking of us! This journal will be such a breeze for the patrons to find...they just have to go through 3 different records to find the most current one....!

Suspended animation?

Science Fiction now has become fact. This is made obvious by the print journal titles that we subscribe to that have appeared to be in deep "suspended animation." I don't know *why* they have been put into this state or at *what point in time* they plan to be readmitted to the land of the living, er, publishing.


At what point is it reasonable for a publisher to give up on a title and be honest with the subscribers that "yes, it *has* actually ceased publication" and stop taking fees each year? I have a list of publications that the vendor lists as "will order when current."


Some of these have been on this list since I started nigh on 10 years ago. Most of these publications are at least 6 years or more behind on their cover chronology. Several have been taken over by new publishers, which promptly raise the price while promising the moon and then...deliver nothing. One of the publications that is on my list of "suspended" titles kept promising to blossom into an online only publication. Three years in, said publication just notified the vendor that they were ceasing publication altogether.


I am not sure that these publishers realize what a mess these "suspended" titles can create or how much time they can consume. Each time I run a claiming report, these pop up. I promptly go to the vendor site and claim them, again, and wait for a response. Then I go into our ILS and do clean up or change them to an inactive control. Oftentimes, we are only aware a title has totally and completely ceased when we wind up with a large credit invoice from our vendor. Fortunately, our vendor lists what title the credit was for and this helps the process along. Then I have to clean up the MARC record...you can see how this snowballs.


Personally, I think there should be some sort of unwritten serials rule -- that if a title is "suspended" more than 2 years, the publication should cease altogether... and never be "reawakened" from "deep suspended animation"!

Surprise Issues!

Publishers are entertaining entities. While a lot of them are folding up their tents or going online only...there are several publishers who continue to send surprise issues! Often these issues are called "special" or "supplement" or "bibliography" and such...and then there is the one I just received today. It is not only a "special" issue -- it is also a change of publishing frequency! I haven't looked yet to see if this "extra" issue also adds onto the price for next year or if it a mere "bonus" by the publisher. *Sigh*

Popular magazine titles and chronology

There is something to be said for consistency and predictability.


I like the fact that Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated and such come out once a week. I appreciate the fact that the chonology is always on the cover.


However, someone needs to tell publishers that putting the date in the same place on the cover would be of great help to us that toil in libraries or educational institutions.


I was up in stacks pulling old issues of SI yesterday and having to hunt for the date on each cover -- noticing that it was not in the same place two weeks in a row. I only want to know WHY? Is it really so much work to change the date on the galley proof? It must not be all that difficult, because several other "news" magazines manage to place the correct date in the same place every two weeks...

"And whosoever believeth in me, shall not die..."

The title that refuses to die is back. It returned to life last year after being officially "suspended" by its last publisher. Now, it purports to publish quarterly, but arrives at irregular intervals. Another unwanted surprise is the issue of it that just landed on my desk this morning -- Fall 2008 v. 58 no. 5!


I checked the publication information which reads "...is published quarterly (Winter, Spring/Summer, September/October, November/December)..." Ok. Let's look at this logically. Not only is there no sensible and consistent chronology or publication schedule -- but the one that landed on my desk does not meet any of those odd criteria...!

Indices

Those younger than Generation X, probably do not see a need for an index. After all, everything is "on the web" and "searchable" right?

The index does still have a purpose -- especially for those titles that are not accessible in a database or through a proprietary website. An index is still handy for titles that are accessible electronically, since a lot of the proprietary sites have embargoes for more current issues.
In addition, I cannot tally the number of incorrect citations that I have seen and it helps to locate an article if there is some sort of index, regardless of the format of the serial.

While I am on the topic, it would be a great boon if all indices were published in some sort of consistent manner. Publishers that publish an index two years after the volume was released are asking for it to be lost or not linked to the original item. Placing an index in the front of the next published volume is also problematic -- especially if there is no outward clue to this fact. And for some sort of bizarre reason, known only to publishers I am sure, indices often do not appear in electronic archives on proprietary sites.