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Hypermedia Online Publishing: the Transformation of the Scholarly Journal

3.3.4 Subscription agents

Libraries need to subscribe to journals. Publishers need to sell subscriptions to libraries. At their simplest, subscription agents act as purchasing agents on behalf of libraries to negotiate subscriptions for periodicals with publishers. In recent decades, the subscription agent business has concentrated into a few large organisations like Swets and Zeitlinger or EBSCO, who have developed a range of services to offer to both groups [Singleton, 1994, p. 18]. To the publishers, these agents offer consolidation of accounts and economies of scale. They also offer alternative markets for journals or even single articles, thus increasing the potential revenue stream to the publishers. To the libraries, they offer the potential for a single contact for subscription enquiries and software support for activities like serials claiming. They can also provide alternative document delivery services if required.

Last modified: Monday, 11-Dec-2017 14:39:05 AEDT