A Proposed NISO Work Item:
Transfer Code of Practice Maintenance and Next Steps
Proposal for Consideration by the NISO Voting Membership
Approval Ballot Period: ________________
The following proposed work item is submitted by: Elizabeth Winter & Alison Mitchell, Co-Chairs of
Transfer Working Group (currently under UK Serials Group)
Proposal Last Modified: _______________
Approved by the NISO Business Information Topic Committee, ________________
TRANSFER CODE OF PRACTICE
UKSG proposes that NISO take over maintenance of the Transfer Code of Practice (as a Recommended
Practice if appropriate) from UKSG and support and manage the Transfer Working Group going forward as a
NISO Standing Committee. NISO would continue the efforts of the existing Transfer Working Group
(currently under UKSG) under the NISO umbrella by creating a NISO Transfer Standing Committee to
maintain and develop the current Code and address the challenges caused when journal titles move
between publishers.
BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM STATEMENT
Currently an initiative of the UK Serials Group (UKSG: www.uksg.org), Transfer seeks to address the issues
that can arise when journals change publishers. Work began on the project in early 2006 with the formation
of a Working Group of representatives from libraries, publishers, intermediaries such as periodicals
subscription agents and other parties relevant to the scholarly journal supply chain. The Transfer Working
Group’s objective was to develop procedures and policies surrounding the transfer of journals between
publishers so that the movement of journals causes the minimum disruption to stakeholders and adheres
to an agreed-upon Code of Practice.
A journal moves from one publisher to another most commonly when the owner (often a society) decides
to change its publishing arrangements. This can generally take one of three forms:
1. The owner chooses to move from publishing its own journal(s) (self-publishing) to contracting with
a commercial or not-for-profit publisher.
2. The owner chooses to move the publishing arrangements for its journal(s) from one commercial or
not-for-profit publisher to another.
3. The owner chooses to move from having its journals published by a commercial or not-for-profit
publisher to self-publishing.
This can be done for a variety of reasons, generally because the owner believes that it will benefit from
better marketing/exposure for its journal(s), improved journal reputation, increased
subscriptions/readership, access to better technology for delivering electronic content, increased revenue,
more effective distribution, or retention of more control over editorial and/or pricing policies. Journals can
also move publishers in situations where the publisher is the owner of the content and decides as part of its
business strategy to sell the journal to another publisher, or in situations in which one commercial
publisher is acquired by or merged with another. These decisions to change publishing arrangements have
an impact on a variety of constituent groups including publishers, libraries, and readers, and there is
potential for the transition of the journal(s) from one set of publishing arrangements to another to cause
some problems for all involved.
During a journal transfer, publishers have to do at least some of the following:
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Send or receive subscriber data in a timely manner
Merge new data with data in existing systems
Interpret subscriber data (including backfile access rights)
Send/receive journal content files and upload these onto existing platforms (can involve dealing
with conflicting formats, digitization issues, etc.)
Maintain links to previous/new publisher platforms
Maintain old content on current platforms
Determine ownership and hosting rights for backfile content
Liaise with third parties (societies, subscription agents, link resolver and discovery service vendors,
etc.)
During a journal transfer, libraries need at least some of the following:
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To have a reliable, timely, and accessible source of data on transfers
To become aware of timing and implications of transfer in time to make appropriate changes to
library data records (integrated library system, link resolver, electronic resource management
system, discovery service, etc.).
To determine how to retain appropriate access to previously subscribed content
To gather and maintain accurate and comparable (COUNTER-compliant) usage data
To ensure that no negative impacts occur with access for library users (loss of access, broken links,
link resolver out-of-date, etc.)
Journal transfers also impact intermediaries such as serials subscription agents, link resolver vendors, and
vendors of large-scale discovery systems. These stakeholders need accurate and timely information about
the publishing arrangements and availability for every journal published so that they can provide this
information and services surrounding it to their customers.
STATEMENT OF WORK
The goals of Transfer and its Code of Practice are to establish a set of best practices to apply whenever a
journal is transferred from one publisher to another and to encourage the industry to embrace these best
practices as a baseline level of quality and performance. The Code is concerned primarily with online
content and not with print, except where the Code calls for print subscription lists to be made available.
The current version (Version 3.0) of the Transfer Code was released in February 2014 after a lengthy
process that involved the UKSG Working Group considering the perspectives of stakeholders, drafting the
Code, soliciting comments, and revising the Code.
The group is now working on efforts to encourage broader uptake of the Code among publishers, by
identifying and reaching out in a targeted way to individual publishers we would like to see become
Transfer-compliant. We are also continuing our efforts to educate the three primary stakeholder
constituencies (librarians, publishers, and societies) about Transfer and its work, to broaden Transfer’s
reach and continue to minimize the disruption caused when journals move between publishers.
NISO is perfectly placed to take over maintenance of the Code via a Transfer Standing Committee and
adopt the Transfer Code of Practice as a Recommended Practice if appropriate. NISO is also very well
placed to disseminate information about the Code, encourage publisher endorsement and implementation
of the Code, and promote the best practices in the Code.
A very important achievement to date for the UKSG Transfer Working Group is the creation of the
Enhanced Transfer Alerting Service (ETAS)—a public, searchable database that helps publishers
communicate journal transfers and makes it easy for librarians and readers to be notified of journal
transfers and to search previous journal transfer alerts. The ETAS is currently offered through collaboration
among UKSG, JUSP, JISC and Cranfield University with JUSP and MIMAS providing the hosting environment.
The current hosting arrangements for the ETAS service will remain in place for the foreseeable future, and
it is not proposed that NISO take over responsibility for the ETAS and so the service is not part of this
Statement of Work.
PARTNERS AND PARTICIPATION
Additional NISO Standing Committee participation will be sought from representatives of these
communities:
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Library, including representatives from individual libraries as well as possibly those from library
consortia
Publishing, including primary and secondary publishers, consultants, and publishing associations
such as SSP and ALPSP
Societies
Intermediaries, including subscription agents, link resolver and discovery service vendors, etc.
TIMELINE
Following are the proposed timeline milestones for this initiative. Future/modified dates to be determined
by an established working group.
Milestone
Timeline
Evaluate and adjust working group
membership
Months 1-2
Develop new Work Plan and draft
addendum
Months 2-4
Encourage broader uptake of the Code
among publishers
Months 4-24
Educate the three main stakeholder
constituencies (librarians, publishers, and
societies) about Transfer
Months 4-24
Determine timetable for future revisions
Month 24 and beyond