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*

Newsflash...

If you work in serials, please sit down. You will not believe what I am about to relate!


I have worked in the quirky realm of serials with all of its oddities for just over nine years now. I have never come across a journal that changed its title AND a) warned its subscribers in advance b) warned them again when the first issue of the new title was sent and c) provided the new ISSN as well as d) information about the publication frequency and e) advised the subscribers about the changed appearance (size) too.


Normally, I try not to name journals by title, since I do not want to incur the wrath of the publishers...but since this is a miracle and the publisher shows not only forethought, but consideration of its subscribers...I will name the journal. The old title was Australian Meteorological Magazine and the new title is Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal.


There is yet another strange twist to this. Apparently this journal is published by a *gasp* government department! Not only did the journal pre-plan its title change, but it was done in an efficient and timely manner by a government department....!


Sorry, just fell off my chair in disbelief as the realization of that last bit hit me.... The terms "efficient, timely, organized and journal" do not usually fall in the same sentence. Even much less likely is the linking of the phrase "published by a government department" to occur in the same sentence as well.


I do think that if a foreign government department can do this (warn subscribers of a title/size change AND publication frequency) in a mere insert that the other journal publishers should aspire to do so as well...! But alas, we all must have dreams...!

"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...!

"Special Issues" and "Supplements"

Special Issues and Supplements can serve the same purpose: being devoted to one topic or expounding on a topic from a "regular" issue and that is what they should be used for.

Special Issues should not be so designated if it is a regular occurence (every 2nd issue of a volume for example) and there is no difference from a "regular" issue -- not even in numbering.

Supplements should not be issued at bizarre intervals from the main volume -- 2 or more years after the volume is published for example...!

Publication statements

The absurdities of publishing can be seen if one is to just look at publication statements from publishers...they can include useful information, but sometimes they just leave one more baffled... See some examples below:


In a mathematics magazine:
"...is published monthly except June and July, with a combined December/January issue..."

This one is actually a great example of what publishers should do:
"...is published in September, November, January, March and May..."

From a theological journal:
"...is published monthly except for combined issues in June/July and August/September..."

And then there is the disclaimer statement:
"...is published when enough material is available to warrant an issue..."

Tune in next time for fun with "submission guidelines."

Odd regular, irregular and unknown publishing

It seems reasonable to me that a publisher would have some sort of timeline in mind when publishing a serial. I understand that there are subjects where few articles are generated and it takes a while to amass enough to publish. That should be when irregular or odd regular publishing schedules are utlilized. There are a couple of publishers who seem to take great delight, though, in publishing at such odd intervals that it makes trying to create a receipt pattern or a chronology pattern in an ILS nigh to impossible.

I once had an 8 year lag between cover chronology and actual chronology. Right now there are at least a dozen publications that are subscribed to by my library that are at least 2 years or more behind schedule. At what point does the publisher give up on back dating the cover and just deal with the year it actually is? When I received that 1992 issue back in 2000 I was befuddled. I had to hunt through old Kardex cards and through the catalog to find the record needed and then update everything. The situation became even odder when the publisher then decided to skip those intervening years and pick up with 2001 cover chronology!