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Press Release
For immediate release October 12, 2004
Journal of Machine Learning Research and Microtome Publishing Announce
Innovative Print Archiving Agreement
Cambridge, MA, USA, October 12, 2004 -- The Journal
of Machine Learning Research (JMLR) and Microtome
Publishing have entered into a partnership to pioneer a novel form
of print archiving for open access journals.
Open access journals such as JMLR make their contents
freely and instantly available worldwide over digital networks. But
access is only part of the role of a journal; long-term archiving
must be managed as well. The archival status of digital data is untested
over long periods, and in any case, the most optimistic expectations
for digital archiving assume active maintenance (refreshing, migration)
at relatively frequent intervals. Thus, the use of acid-free
paper archiving is a prudent step for scholarly publications, at
least until such time as alternative mechanisms have "shaken out"
and demonstrated their potential for longevity.
With open access print archiving , an open access journal
prepares annually a copy of all articles it has published during
the year; copies are then printed on acid-free paper, bound to library
standards, and distributed to a set of libraries to serve not as
access copies but as archival copies for long-term deposit.
Microtome Publishing was founded by Stuart
Shieber, Welch Professor
of Computer Science at Harvard University, to provide just such innovative
services in support of open access. According to Professor Shieber,
"Some open access journals have partnered with traditional publishers
to provide print versions of their journals. Unfortunately,
because they are geared toward traditional journal publishing,
rather than print archiving, traditional publishers have continued
legacy practices of printing multiple issues per year (as if the
print version was needed for access), stipulating page counts and
running backlogs, distributing in non-archival bindings, and operating
at high overheads with concomitant high journal costs. Increasingly,
traditional publishers are dropping print versions of open access
journals because they can't make the types of profits they are
used to. Open access print archiving is an effective alternative
to traditional print versions of open access journals to provide
for their long-term archiving economically and efficiently."
The open access Journal of Machine Learning Research is
Microtome's first open access print archiving partner. JMLR is
a leading journal in the artificial intelligence (AI) subfield of
computer science; in 2003, it had the highest ISI impact factor of
any journal in AI, after only three years of publication.
The journal was founded by Leslie
Pack Kaelbling, Professor of Computer
Science and Engineering at MIT, as a reaction to the restrictive
electronic distribution policies and exorbitant institutional subscription
rates of commercial scientific publishers.
A print version of JMLR was previously published in traditional
print journal form by MIT Press, providing eight issues a year at
a $400 annual subscription fee. "I believe that working with
MIT Press was advantageous in the initial stages of the journal,"
said Professor Kaelbling. "JMLR was never profitable
for them, however, and we felt the need to establish a new print
archiving model. I am delighted to have arrived at an agreement with
Stuart Shieber and Microtome Publishing, to begin publishing JMLR in
January 2005. It will benefit both the libraries and JMLR. We
will publish a single annual volume which is already library bound,
at a price that is dramatically reduced from the current institutional
serial subscription rate. This model should simplify our production
efforts as well as decrease labor, binding, and acquisition costs
for libraries."
JMLR 's first print archive volume under the new agreement
will appear early in 2005, thereby instantly eliminating a one-year
backlog. The price will be $200, half of the previous year's price.
Libraries can support the initiative by ordering JMLR through
their serials distributor or directly from Microtome at www.mtome.com.
About Microtome Publishing
Microtome Publishing was founded in 2002 by Stuart M. Shieber,
Harvard College Professor and James O. Welch, Jr. and Virginia B.
Welch Professor of Computer Science in the Division of Engineering
and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. The company's
premise is that scholarly publishing should have different goals
from traditional publishing; works that have been written without
consideration for monetary gain by the authors should be disseminated
to the greatest number for the lowest cost to the greater good of
all. More information on Microtome is available at www.mtome.com.
About Journal of Machine Learning Research
The open access Journal of Machine Learning Research was
founded by Leslie Pack Kaelbling, Professor of Computer Science and
Engineering at MIT, as a reaction to the restrictive electronic distribution
policies and exorbitant institutional subscription rates of commercial
scientific publishers. JMLR is a leading journal in the
artificial intelligence subfield of computer science; in 2003, it
had the highest ISI impact factor of any journal in AI, after only
three years of publication. More information on JMLR is available
at www.jmlr.org.
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