Journal of Library Administration's Editorial Board Resigns

The Editor and Editorial Board for the Journal of Library Administration have recently resigned due to the Journal’s restrictive author’s rights. Damon E. Jaggers, the former Editors  of JLA, has written:

“The Board believes that the licensing terms in the Taylor & Francis author agreement are too restrictive and out-of-step with the expectations of authors in the LIS community . . . . A large and growing number of current and potential authors to JLA have pushed back on the licensing terms included in the Taylor & Francis author agreement. Several authors have refused to publish with the journal under the current licensing terms. Several others have demanded to add addenda to the author agreement to clarify what they find to be confusing language about the exclusivity of the publishing rights Taylor & Francis requires . . . .After much discussion, the only alternative presented by Taylor & Francis tied a less restrictive license to a $2995 per article fee to be paid by the author.  As you know, this is not a viable licensing option for authors from the LIS community who are generally not conducting research under large grants. . . .Thus, the Board came to the conclusion that it is not possible to produce a quality journal under the current licensing terms offered by Taylor & Francis and chose to collectively resign.”

To learn more about this resignation, take a look at this article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, and a blog entry from the Association of College & Research Libraries.