Scientific publishing

SISSA
A success story in electronic scientific publishing
København 22.4.2006
Giuliana Zotta Vittur
Enrico M. Balli
SISSA: the Miramare Campus
SISSA
Founded in 1978, it is focused
on two basic missions:
• promotion and development
of culture and scientific topquality research in the fields
of physics, mathematics and
neuroscience;
• training of young graduate
students in pure and applied
research, also for university
teaching career.
SISSA
Thanks to a small and
flexible structure, SISSA
is able to continually
reshape its teaching and
research programs to meet
new scientific challenges
and to attract substantial
private and public research
funds.
SISSA: the smallest university in Italy
Budget
PhD Students
€ 41,350,000
200
Master Students *
33
Professors
49
Researchers
19
Employees
84
Buildings
* Master in Science Communication
sqm 11,889
The Research Sectors
SISSA
International School for Advanced Studies
Astrophysics
High Energy Physics
Cognitive
Neuroscience
Statistical and
Biological Physics
Neurobiology
Condensed Matter
Theory
Functional Analysis
and Application
10 m
Mathematical
Physics
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
•
•
•
•
17° Century: first journals
19° Century: peer review
After WW1: proliferation of journals
After WW2: book publishers enter the
market
• 1980-1990: concentration of journal
publications in a few large companies
• Big circulation of preprints
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
Costs for libraries:
• More than 2 billion euros per year in
subscription fees
• Shelves
• Buildings
• General costs
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
A good business for a publisher:
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
Technological innovation:
• Availability of electronic formats for
papers (TeX)
• Availability of electronic media to
distribute preprints (e-mail)
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
Creation of archives:
•
•
1991: Los Alamos National Laboratories
(physics)
1992: SISSA (physics)
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
Further technological innovation:
• 1991: World-Wide Web standard
released by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN
• 1993: alpha version of Mosaic released
by Marc Andreessen at NCSA
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
The story goes on:
• 1996: SISSA creates JHEP, the first
electronic, online only, Open Access
Journal
• “A journal by scientists for scientists “
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
Author
Editor
Referees
Evaluation
Submission
DB
Report
WJ Software
(+ Internet)
Editorial
Office
Published!
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
The success of JHEP in numbers:
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Submitted
05
20
04
20
03
20
02
20
01
20
00
20
99
19
98
19
19
97
Accepted
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
Impact factor (ISI) in 2004:
JHEP
6.5
Nucl Phys B
5.3
Phys Rev D
4.6
Physics Letters B
Eur Phys J C
4
3.6
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
The success of JHEP became a problem:
• The number of published papers brings a
huge increase in organization and costs
(people, editorial services,
telecommunications, servers…)
• Failure of the sponsor-based system
• A new financial model is needed
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
Partnership with IoP (Institute of Physics, UK):
• 2000: The subscription model (low price, open
access for developing countries)
• 2002: JCAP (Journal of Cosmology and
Astroparticle Physics)
• 2004: JSTAT (Journal of Statistical
Mechanics)
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
Success, again:
400
Submitted (Jcap)
300
Accepted (Jcap)
200
Submitted (Jstat)
100
Accepted (Jstat)
0
2002 2003 2004 2005
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
Impact factor (ISI) in 2004:
JCAP
7.9
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
The story goes on:
• 2004: New Open Access Journals (Jcom,
PoS)
• 2005: CERN task force on Open Access
• 2006: JINST (Journal of
Instrumentation)
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Scientific publishing
Sissa Medialab:
• A spin-off company founded at the end
of 2005
• 20 people in three areas (Journals, IT,
science communication)
• Continues the tradition started in 1991
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Journals by scientists for scientists
SISSA Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati