An Analysis of the Use of Electronic Journals in a Spanish Academic Context: Developments and Profitability

Abstract

This article studies the models of consumption of the academic communities of five Spanish universities with regard to the use of contents distributed by four major providers of electronic journals from the time at which subscriptions were first taken until 2010. Similarly, the authors undertook an initial approach to assess the value of the financial investment in such subscriptions on the basis of data from the Spanish universities of Leon and of Vigo. Serials Review 2011; 37:181-195 ). The study was extended in 2006, 2 concentrating on an investigation of the consumption of electronic information at the point of transition from paper to digital format. It also considered future models for the development of collections in university libraries that would allow them to maintain their leading role in the provision of scholarly information.The current intention is to analyze how the consumption of academic information evolved over the first decade of the twentyfirst century and make a first approach to judging the financial viability of the investments in these packaged electronic resources from major suppliers. To this end, a collaboration agreement was drawn up and signed by the research group and by the Consortium of Libraries in Castile and Leon (BUCLE) in 2010.This line of research can be followed up through the literature reviews undertaken by Carol Tenopir 5 , Ian Rowlands 6 and the papers included in the proceedings of the seminar that the Ingenta Institute 7 ran specifically on the topic of joint purchasing and its value. The electronic journal packages were subscribed to on the basis of the Big Deal model. This has been the subject of a number of studies that have established a reference framework:

Relación entre descargas y citas de revistas científicas en el ámbito de la documentación: el caso de las universidades públicas de Castilla y León

“…Son numerosos los estudios referidos a bibliotecas universitarias que han analizado la adecuación de sus colecciones a las necesidades de los usuarios, principalmente a través de las estadísticas de descargas o de las referencias citadas, tal y como recogen Kurtz y Bollen (2010). Los estudios de las estadísticas de descargas tienen como referente los trabajos de David Nicholas y su grupo de in-vestigación CIBER (CIBER, 2009), existiendo también en España grupos de investigación que han mostrado un interés sostenido en este método de análisis para evaluar la utilidad de las colecciones electrónicas, así como para analizar su rentabilidad y repercusión en la productividad científica (Urbano y otros, 2004;Rodríguez-Bravo y otros, 2008, 2012a, 2012bRodríguez-Bravo y Alvite-Díez, 2006a, 2006bFernández-Ramos y otros, 2019).…”

Cognitive styles and the use of electronic journals in a mobile context

“…The results showed that the increase in the amount and accessibility of the information available had led to an increase in the amount of journals and articles read. Recently, Bravo and Díez (2011) examined the models of consumption of the academic communities of five Spanish universities. Their results revealed that the overall totals for downloads at the universities showed constant growth from 2002 onward.…”