American Anthropological Association Freezes Journal Subscription Prices
Group Responds to Financial Pressure on Library Subscribers
Today, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) announced that its Executive Board voted to freeze 2010 subscription rates for all of its journals in an effort to respond to the concerns of their primary subscribers.
At a time where librarians are worried about the current economic recession and are tightening their budgets, the AAA took swift action to respond to the need of their primary constituents. Today’s action also includes the freezing of rates for AnthroSource, the AAA supported premier online portal providing access to over 100 years of anthropological knowledge.
“AAA is committed to listening to our resource partners, and this step by the Executive Board proves that,” AAA Executive Director Bill Davis said in a statement released today. “We take very seriously our responsibility to make anthropological knowledge as accessible as possible, and will do everything in our power to ensure that researchers, students and others continue to explore the depths of this wonderful discipline.”
Academic librarians nationwide are expressing concern about their given the current economic crisis and the reduction in federal, state and local funding for their operations, AAA is committed to ensuring that as many libraries as possible continue to have access to anthropological research published in its 22 publications, including the American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist, Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Cultural Anthropology, Ethos, and Medical Anthropology Quarterly.
Although the association is freezing prices, AAA and its publishing partner, Wiley-Blackwell, continue to make investments in the aforementioned journals and AnthroSource.
Wiley-Blackwell has invested in a massive retrodigitization project, which will consolidate all AAA content on a single platform and add more than 900 articles to AnthroSource as well as four decades of Anthropology News. New content now appears in full-text, full-searchable HTML as well as PDF format, and editors have the option to publish figures in color online. Plans are also underway for new online features including supporting materials (e.g. datasets, translations), online discussions linked to content, and podcasts. .
To help ensure underresourced communities can access the content, the AAA and Wiley-Blackwell also continue to make our content available for free or at a reduced cost in the developing world via philanthropic programs such as HINARI, OARE, INASP. and AGORA, and offer free access to AnthroSource to U.S. Tribal Colleges, U.S. Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Canadian Arctic Colleges and Canadian First Nation Colleges.
For more information, please contact Oona Schmid, AAA Director of Publishing at (703) 528-1902 x 1174 , or via electronic mail at oschmid@americananthro.org.
###
Founded in 1902, the American Anthropological Association is the world's largest professional organization of anthropologists and others interested in anthropology, with an average annual membership of more than 10,000. The Arlington, Va.-based association represents all specialties within anthropology — cultural anthropology, biological (or physical) anthropology, archaeology, linguistics and applied anthropology.
