PUBLISHER'S REPORT

IFIP General Assembly 2001 Natal, Brazil

Contents:

• 2001 - Highlights of the First 6 Months 
• Summary of Books Published, Sales Revenues and Royalties Earned for the First 6 Months 
• Projections - Second Half of 2001 
• Marketing 
• Production 
• Price Elasticity Experiment 
• Education and Information Technologies 
• Appendix A: 

• New Titles Published, January - June 2001 
• Scheduled Titles, July - December 2001 

• Appendix B: 

• Total Sales and Royalties by TC, January 1 - June 30, 2001 
• Frontlist Sales, January 1 - June 30, 2001 
• Backlist Sales, January 1 - June 30, 2001 
• Total Number of Books Sold, July 1998 - June 2001 

2001 - Highlights of the First 6 Months

The year 2001 is following the pattern of 1999 for the IFIP book series, with 8 new titles published by Kluwer as of June 30, and 14 scheduled for publication in the second half. Accordingly, sales revenues are down from the first half of 2000, which saw 12 new IFIP titles published, but slightly higher than first half 1999 revenues, with 8 new titles published.

The publication process continues to go smoothly, for the most part. We have continued to deliver pre-conference volumes to their venues on time, even when we are afforded less than 12 weeks to do so. As might be expected, most of the difficulties are encountered when volume editors play a less active role in instructing their contributing authors in the preparation of their camera-ready papers.

The Summary below reports on the titles published from January through June 2001, including sales revenues and royalties earned for this 6-month period. Please note that royalties earned by IFIP for the first 6 months of 2001 will be paid by September 30, 2001, in accordance with our contract; thus, the Treasurer's Report does not yet show this as royalty income received.

Summary of Books Published, Sales Revenues and Royalties Earned for the First 6 Months

• 8 new IFIP proceedings volumes were published during the first half of 2001 (see Appendix A), as compared to 12 new volumes in the first half of 2000. This apparent downward trend is possibly indicative of the cyclical nature of IFIP conferences: 8 new titles were published in the first half of 1999 as well.
• As of this writing, 10 more manuscripts have gone into production for publication in the second half of 2001. We expect to put 4 more outstanding manuscripts into production before the September 14 deadline, thus bringing the number of new IFIP titles published in 2000 to 22. This is down from the 23 IFIP books published in 2000, and from the 24 IFIP books published in 1999. Continued decreasing title output will of course lead to declining revenues - a trend we hope IFIP will take active measures to reverse in 2002 and beyond.
• Sales revenues for IFIP titles totaled $261,495.37 [€291,567.34] for the first half of 2001. This represents a decrease of nearly 14% (about 6% when compared in Euros) from sales of $297,686.69 [€309,594.19] for the first half of 2000. However, this is an increase of 2% over 1999 first half sales of $256,290.99 [€274,231.36] (about 6.3% when compared in Euros). Sales are thus stable when title output is considered.
• Sales of 8 frontlist titles (published since January 1, 2001) accounted for $101,446.58 [€113,112.96] of total revenues for the first half of 2001, and sales of 186 backlist titles (published prior to January 1, 2001) accounted for $160,048.79 [€178,454.38] of total revenues - 39% and 61%, respectively. · Royalties due IFIP total $42,222.46 [€47,077.99] for the first half of 2001. This represents a decrease of 10.6% from royalties of $46,693.78 [€48,561.53] (about 3.1% when compared in Euros) for the first half of 2000. Compared to the first half of 1999, royalties are down 3.8% (though up 0.4% when compared in Euros).
• Bulk sale revenues totaled $55,302.50 [€61,662.29] for the first half of 2001, which represents a decrease of nearly 44% from bulk sale revenues of $79,630.00 [€82,815.20] for the first half of 2000. Compared to the first half of 1999, bulk sale revenues are down 3% (1.2% when compared in Euros). Much of this decrease can be attributed to the decreased title output for the first half of 2001, and to smaller bulk orders.
• Sales data by TC is included as Appendix B. TC6 and TC5 lead with total sales of $69,794.49 [€77,820.84] and $51,264.82 [€57,160.25], respectively, for the first half of 2001. TC8, TC11, and TC3 follow, with sales of $35,505.48 [€39,588.62] for TC8, sales of $28,734.32 [€32,038.76] for TC11, and sales of $24,731.44 [€27,575.57] for TC3.

Projections - Second Half of 2000

At this writing, it appears that we will publish only 22 titles in 2001; one scheduled 2001 volume was rescheduled for 2002 as a post-conference proceedings. This is not the growth we had expected to see by now, and we are hopeful that the decline in title output in 2001 is an anomaly, and/or that it reflects the cyclical nature of IFIP conferences. We are well aware that the declining title output is due in part to a number of IFIP proceedings being published by IFIP's non-official publisher, Springer, apparently in protest of Kluwer's prices. An educated guess would venture that these books are not generating more revenue per title for IFIP and its TCs -- nor selling significantly more copies -- than those published by Kluwer, particularly in light of the price elasticity experiment results reported below. IFIP will hopefully take this into account and take steps to reverse this trend in 2002.

Contracts have so far been offered for 12 volumes to be published in 2002, and we hope to publish the 10 volumes planned for the 2002 World Computer Congress in Montreal. It is not unrealistic to expect that we will offer contracts for 8 more volumes in the next several months, which would bring us to our mutual goal of publishing 30 IFIP volumes in 2002.

Total revenues for 2001 should easily double first half revenues, with 14 new titles to be published in the second half, and at least one substantial bulk order. However, with 4 of these titles scheduled for November/December publication, it remains to be seen if we will meet or exceed total revenues for 2000 of $653,585 [€701,082].

Marketing

Kluwer continues to actively market the IFIP book series, both to the IFIP community and the scientific community at large. For the benefit of the two new TC Chairs, and any other new GA delegates, following is a recap of our ongoing marketing activities:

As the principal and official publisher of the IFIP book series, Kluwer's web site currently hosts 200 IFIP proceedings volumes dating back to 1995; contents listings are included for most of those titles. A simple search of "IFIP" under Book Series in the Kluwer online catalog instantly brings up a comprehensive library of these titles. This is a clear benefit to IFIP as an established brand name. In contrast, IFIP books published by Springer all but disappear into the LNCS series; a search of "IFIP" on Springer's web site only brings up two IFIP titles. We see this as a compelling reason for IFIP TC Chairs to have their proceedings volumes published by Kluwer, to benefit not only their own individual titles but to strengthen the IFIP brand name as well.

Every new IFIP title is listed on our web site usually weeks before publication. If you have signed up for the Kluwer ALERT service, then you have already received electronic announcements for new IFIP books in advance of their publication. For those who have not signed up for this free service, we invite you to go to Kluwer's web site at www.wkap.nl  and click on the Kluwer ALERT button to register for advance electronic notification of new IFIP titles.

New IFIP titles are also routinely included in Kluwer's monthly New Title Bulletin and in quarterly discipline-specific brochures, which are mailed to over 7000 institutional librarians around the world.

We have just produced the 2001 edition of the IFIP Bookshelf, which features descriptions of frontlist titles and a listing of backlist titles going back to 1997. This catalogue is being mailed to the entire IFIP mailing list, and will be displayed at conferences attended by Kluwer throughout the coming year. We hope that IFIP members are using this catalogue to help promote the IFIP book series to their colleagues as well as to their institutional librarians.

We continue to advertise IFIP books alongside Kluwer's regular computer science titles, in brochure mailings to various IEEE, ACM, and other lists throughout the year, as well as at hundreds of conferences around the world. Examples of these brochures are displayed here at GA with our newest IFIP titles.

Promoting TC Books to TC Members

We continue to send electronic new book announcements for IFIP titles, usually weeks before publication, to the IFIP Secretariat for distribution to the TC Chairs and IFIP member societies. We continue to believe that the IFIP membership is the most natural audience for IFIP books, and we hope that the electronic distribution of these new book announcements is effective in reaching the membership in a timely fashion. This is an opportunity that the TC Chairs can use to increase sales of their TC's books and thus their royalties. An electronic button providing a link to the IFIP book series on Kluwer's web site will be distributed by the Secretariat to the TCs and IFIP member societies later this year, when Kluwer's next-generation web site will be up and running. The button can be posted on TC, WG, and member society web pages, and is available now, upon request. While the link should automatically migrate to the new link, you may need to update the button when the new web site is up.

Production

The style files and templates posted on our web site for IFIP volume editors seem to be working quite well for those volume editors that use them and instruct their contributing authors to use them. We recently added templates for Word 2000 to the web site, and we will be making the following improvements to the web site in the fall of 2001:

The main page of the web site for IFIP volume editors will be redesigned so that contributing authors are pointed to a separate page hosting the style files, templates, and copyright transfer form. In the interim, editors should point their authors to www.wkap.com/ifip/styles , which will bypass the marketing and pricing information posted on the main page. The updated page for authors will include step-by-step downloading instructions, and will specify which files authors should use to format their chapters and which files editors should use to compile the final camera-ready manuscript. The documentation (or help) files currently posted on this page will be streamlined so that instructions for authors of individual papers will be separate from the instructions for editors compiling the papers into the final camera-ready manuscript.

Early planning is a key component in the publication process. TC Chairs should continue to encourage their conference organizers and volume editors to contact Kluwer as early in the conference planning process as possible, and to consult the "Guidelines for Editors of IFIP Conference Proceedings" as well as the "Timeline for the Publication Process" posted on our web site. Early planning affords editors the time to communicate our camera-ready requirements - including deadline dates - to contributing authors, and it gets the contract process taken care of well in advance of the manuscript delivery date, allowing the editor to focus on the manuscript and conference preparations. We will continue to do our best to accommodate volume editors who don't contact us six months in advance of a pre-conference proceedings volume, but early planning will make the publication process smoother for everyone involved.

Bulk Sale Prices

The bulk sale prices posted in December 1999 have remained in effect for 2001, and we do not plan to increase them for 2002. This price structure has allowed us to publish every new volume that has been proposed to us, in most cases paying IFIP its customary 18% royalty.

Price Elasticity Experiment

Our price elasticity experiment, to determine the effect of prices on sales, has been underway for about 17 months. Results to date corroborate our assertion that price does not have a significant impact on sales.

Using the annual Database Security conference volumes, we priced the 2000 volume, Research Advances in Database and Information Systems Security (edited by Vijay Atluri and John Hale, and published in April 2000), at $99.50. The previous year's volume, Database Security XII (edited by Sushil Jajodia, and published in April 1999), has a list price of $160.00. (Please note that with the 30% IFIP Member Society discount, the 2000 volume would cost IFIP members $69.65, and the 1999 volume would cost $112.00.) As of this writing, each volume has sold a total of 148 copies, plus a 50-copy bulk sale. Kluwer's experience shows that most sales take place in the first 6-12 months following publication; hence, we predict that sales of the 2000 volume have leveled off and may only slightly exceed sales of the 1999 volume over the course of the next 6-12 months. We will continue to monitor sales of these volumes, and will report the results at the next IFIP Council and General Assembly meetings.

Education and Information Technologies

The Journal has been running behind schedule in 2001, and the Editor-in-Chief attributes this to a significant number of papers being presented at the July/August World Conference on Computers in Education that would otherwise be submitted to the Journal. The second and third issues have just recently gone into production and will be published in November and December. The fourth issue should follow by January 2002. Timeliness of publication is a key factor that librarians consider when deciding on new journal subscriptions. It is also a deciding factor for indexing and abstracting services; ISI recently decided against including the Journal in its Science Citation Index, stating late publication as a reason for their decision. The Journal will hopefully publish its issues in a timely fashion in 2002, and we will again submit it for inclusion in ISI's Science Citation Index. (The journal is currently included in 7 abstracting/indexing services: Higher Education Abstracts; INSPEC Information Services; Computer Literature Index; International Reviews on Mathematical Education; Sociological Abstracts; Social Planning/Policy & Development Abstracts; and Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts.)

There are currently 72 institutional subscribers to Volume 6 (up almost 3% from 70 subscriptions in 2000, and 9% from 66 subscriptions in 1999). Private subscriptions number 14 in 2001, doubling private subscriptions of 7 for 2000. While this is not the robust level of growth we had hoped for by now, we are at least seeing growth rather than a decline in subscriptions. With over 1000 subscriptions for Volume 6 going to delegates of the World Conference on Computers in Education, both institutional and individual subscriptions should see significant growth in 2002.

A brochure for the Journal was mailed to about 8000 members of the International Society for Technology in Education list in the spring of 2000, and we will conduct another large promotion in early 2002. We will also do follow-up mailings to WCCE delegates, encouraging them to subscribe when their complimentary subscription to Volume 6 expires.

We continue to advertise the Journal in the IFIP Information Bulletin, in issues of the IFIP Newsletter, and in various niche-specific brochures and catalogues mailed throughout the year. The Journal is also displayed at relevant conferences, and is included in a full-color poster of several Kluwer journals in the areas of science education and computers in education, which was recently developed by Kluwer's Education Editor in Dordrecht. The level of marketing attention being given to Education and Information Technologies is usually reserved for new Kluwer journals in their first three years of publication. Since Kluwer assumed publication of the journal at the end of Volume 3, we have continued to market it as a new journal, trying to build up its subscription base. We are hopeful that the marketing actions taken so far - including the promotion of complimentary subscriptions at the WCCE - will bear fruit by 2002 with a solid base of institutional and individual subscriptions.

Finally, we continue to look to IFIP TC3 to encourage its members to support their journal with individual subscriptions and recommendations to their institutional librarians. We also encourage other TC3 conference organizers to consider including a private subscription to Education and Information Technologies in their conference registration packages; bulk subscription prices are negotiable. This would seem to be an excellent way for TC3 conference organizers to add extra value to their registration packages.

IFIP Newsletter

Kluwer published a combined December 2000/March 2001 issue of the IFIP Newsletter in April 2001, and the June issue was mailed in July. The September 2001 issue will be mailed after the GA. Thanks to Jack Rosenfeld for continuing to deliver a high-quality product, in both form and content.

Appendix A:

• New Titles Published, January—June 2001

• Scheduled Titles, July—December 2001