Publishing Technology, a UK-based provider of software and services for the publishing industry, has announced the publication of two case studies exploring the benefits of digitising backfiles. Two scholarly publishers - Netherlands-based Brill and US-based OceanSide Publications - recently took their journal archives online. The Publishing Technology case studies outline these projects and the benefits realised.
Brill, a humanities and social sciences publisher, set out to deliver 60,000 journal articles dating back to 1850 to the modern researcher. The project, which coincides with the company's 325th anniversary, was established to increase visibility and improve sales. With 90 percent of the backfiles already available, sales have grown 8-10 percent this year as Brill has increased its traffic through IngentaConnect, Publishing Technology's scholarly research platform. Also, the company has been able to increase its fees for pay-per-view and subscription access as it is now able to offer more to its customers. According to the company, the academic community's reception of the project has been so positive that the JISC has purchased the entire archive on behalf of the UK higher education community.
OceanSide Publications, a medical publisher, wished to convey the depth of its 20 years of research to the community. It sought tools from Publishing Technology to remain competitive and build credibility by showcasing the breadth of its work and amount of time in the industry through the Internet. Since the project's completion in 2007, OceanSide has reportedly recognised many benefits. These include the ability to introduce and experiment with new business models, resulting in an increase in subscriptions, additional article sales via pay-per-view, as well as increased usage of content. Although the full subscription price increased following the addition of the backfiles, the entire package is being purchased more frequently than more limited subscription options.
The case studies are available in full at http://www.publishingtechnology.com/about/archive/brill_oct08.pdf and http://www.publishingtechnology.com/about/archive/oceanside_oct08.pdf.
