Societies

Starting a new society journal: a case study

The Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft (the German Zoology Society) launched their new journal Frontiers in Zoology with BioMed Central in September 2004. It is edited by Jürgen Heinze and Diethard Tautz, the latter of which is also the current President of the Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft (DZG). Professor Tautz discussed with us his experiences of starting a new society journal with BioMed Central.

The society

The DZG is one of the largest national zoological societies in the world, with approximately 1600 members. Is has been actively promoting zoological research for over one hundred years. The society had for many years published its conference proceedings using various schemes and collaborations, but according to Professor Tautz, society members had come to realise that "a society of its size and historical standing would be better served by launching its own journal".

The field of zoology has historically been segmented into independent sub-disciplines. However, in recent years this has begun to be reversed as those in the field increasingly appreciate that a re-integration of these sub-disciplines helps zoologists gain a more comprehensive understanding of zoological phenomena. The society wished to take a leading role in the development of their field, by launching a journal with a scope that encouraged a broad range of articles relevant to the field of zoology, and in doing so increase the visibility of the DZG.

What were the main issues involved in the society starting a journal?

Having decided to start a new journal, the Executive Board of the DZG had to choose whether they wanted it to be print-only, print-and-online, or online-only. They also needed to decide how they were going to manage the journal to ensure that its scope and policies fulfilled the aims of the society and the needs of the research community. Finally, they had to choose a method of funding the new journal that would suit the society, its members, and the wider zoology community.

Print, online or both?

The first big question for most societies considering starting their own journal is whether to produce a print version, an online version or both. With our independent journals programme all options are possible, but the Executive Board of the DZG felt that online-only would suit the needs of their members and their finances: according to Professor Tautz, "the low distribution costs and widespread availability of online journals meant that it was clear from the start of discussions that the new journal should be Internet-based".

How to manage the journal?

The Executive Board of the DZG were clear from the start that they wanted to have full control of their journal to ensure that its scope and policies fulfilled the aims of the society. After evaluating various ways to launch their own online journal, they felt that BioMed Central's independent journals programme offered them the chance to make full use of the services of a professional publisher, whilst at the same time retaining control of their journal. According to Professor Tautz: "It was already clear in our first discussions on this subject that we wanted to be in full control of the journal. Among the various options it was clear that BioMed Central has the most professional support. I had at that time published a paper in BMC Bioinformatics and was fully satisfied with the process. That helped to convince our members."

How to fund the journal?

The independent journals programme also appealed to the DZG because all articles are open access, and so freely available worldwide. This is funded using article-processing charges. We wondered whether the society had any reservations about using this model, as opposed to subscription charges. Professor Tautz told us that members of the society discussed this in depth and had very few reservations. Not only would the journal be freely available to readers, it would provide increased visibility for the society. Furthermore, many researchers and potential authors would be at member institutions and so would not have to pay the charges directly. Finally, to ensure that the ability to pay would not be a deciding factor in how a manuscript is assessed, the society secured some funds to cover article-processing charges on behalf of authors without funding.

The result: Frontiers in Zoology

Since the journal was launched, it has published a steady stream of articles with impressive access rates.

Professor Tautz reports that society members are already happy with the increased visibility of the society that has resulted from their new journal and are impressed by the high download rates of their first articles.

When asked about the society's experiences of starting a new journal with BioMed Central, Professor Tautz concluded that: "BioMed Central staff were always very helpful and supportive, and we continue to benefit from their professional support."

Conclusions

When members of the DZG considered starting a new journal, their major aims were to ensure that the journal was under the editorial control of the society and to increase the visibility of the society to others in the field. So how did it manage to fulfil these aims?

Because DZG members chose to use our independent journals programme, they have complete editorial control of their new journal and can thus determine the journal's aims and scope, quality threshold, and the types of articles considered. This has enabled them to start a new journal with a broad scope that should help the many sub-disciplines in zoology to re-integrate.

Since Frontiers in Zoology is open access, it is freely available to anyone with access to the Internet. This means that the journal reaches many more readers than if it were only accessible to those with a subscription. Hence the visibility of the journal, and of the society, is high.

Further information for societies wishing to start a new journal is available on our societies page, or by contacting newjournals@biomedcentral.com