When e-journals change publisher, their location on the web is highly likely to change as well. The new publisher needs to communicate to agents and subscribers the new URL and any changes in requirements for access (e.g. IP address ranges). Agents and subscribers need good notice of such changes in order to be able to supply the new publisher with the required information and ensure access is continued.
In some cases, a journal's backfiles prior to the year of transfer may remain with the old publisher and continue to be accessible via the old URL, either temporarily or, in rare cases, permanently. This results in electronic journals being split between two publishers. Such transfers can result in confusion for the customer and the agent and may cause access problems.
It is therefore imperative that timely and comprehensive details of journal transfers are clearly communicated to all in the supply chain.
Insupport of the above, the ASA endorses the UKSG Transfer Code of Practice which responds to the expressed needs of the scholarly journal community for consistent guidelines to help publishers ensure that when there is a transfer between parties, the new situation can be readily understood by agents and other intermediaires, and that journal content remains easily accessible to librarians and readers.
To help the situation further, the ASA recommends that publishers enable their agent partners to re-register and activate subscriptions to transferred titles on behalf of their customers. In this way the agent can make the required changes rapidly and efficiently, saving publishers and libraries time and money, and preventing lapses in access.