Gordon & Breach Policies (Peter Churcher) Ann Ercelawn 27 Nov 1995 16:44 UTC
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 15:06:45 +0100 From: Peter Churcher <peter.churcher@GBPUB.COM> Subject: Gordon&Breach Policies On behalf of International Publishers Distributor (IPD), the distributor of Gordon and Breach (G&B) titles, I would like to address points raised in recent messages on Serialst concerning the policies of G&B. G&B publishes its journals based on the flow of papers accepted for publication not, as Ms Lively postulated, on the number of orders received. This practice enables G&B to publish research more quickly than most other publishers with whom authors sometimes must wait until the next available issue is scheduled to print. Although this means issues of G&B journals are not published on a strict monthly or quarterly basis, annual renewal invoicing in Autumn reflects G&B's projection of the number of pages that will be published in the next calendar year. In most cases the projections are accurate but sometimes an unexpected surge of papers may necessitate publishing a double issue, or issues in quick succession, so that publication of material is not delayed. Also, there can be an unexpected decline in papers accepted for publication leading to publication of fewer issues than were invoiced in the prior Autumn. However, we will not issue Autumn renewal invoices for those journals that still may be publishing the current year's issues well into the next year. In 1996 G&B will begin publishing monthly Communications journals both in print and on-line, as supplements to many of its established journals. These will contain pre-reviewed synoptics and abstracts of papers currently under review, including publication of original letters. The primary purpose of the Communications journals will be to communicate the authors' research more quickly and to provide readers with monthly previews of upcoming volumes. Also, subscribers will be better able to anticipate the flow of papers for that particular journal. Subscribers will begin receiving their first Communications journal issues in Spring of '96. Regarding G&B's cancellation policy: We believe it is a fair and standard practice that a subscription can not be cancelled after the issues have begun publishing. The purpose of this is more to ensure the operational efficiency of subscription fulfilment than anything else. As for the question raised about G&B's willingness to take on any "financial risk", I can only point out that the financial risk is already taken when the publisher signs a contract to begin a new journal, especially in G&B's case where each journal is designed to meet the specific needs of a finite, but important, group of specialists. This risk can only be assessed by G&B after several years of financially supporting an international editorial board, accommodating the unique production and distribution requirements of a dispersed group of authors and readers and marketing a new publication whose acceptance by specialist readers is uncertain . Actually, subscribing to a G&B journal involves less financial risk than does subscribing to a journal of more general coverage as more material in a G&B journal is relevant to the readers' specialized area of interest. Thank you. Peter Churcher International Publishers Distributor