Modernizing the Publishing Services Relationship for a Cross-disciplinary Society Journal


Society for the History of Technology

Publishing Services Agreements


Helping a Society ensure that it (and its journal publisher) is keeping up with the times.




Background

The Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) is the owner of Technology and Culture, the official journal of the Society and one of the most respected titles in this cross-disciplinary area. SHOT’s longstanding relationship with its publisher, Johns Hopkins University Press (JHUP), dated back to 1998, with JHUP supporting both the publication of the journal and SHOT member services. SHOT wished to evaluate its current position and to determine whether a new approach to partnership was warranted to ensure a successful program into the future. C&E was retained to conduct a situation analysis and to manage a publisher request-for-proposal (RFP) process.

What We Did

First, C&E conducted an assessment to identify SHOT’s key strategic needs and to confirm what decision criteria were most important for its choice of publisher. A Situation Analysis Report was provided to SHOT, and included a review of current business terms, of editorial, marketing, sales, technology, and membership support needs, and of society goals for the journal’s development. C&E then managed a competitive publishing services agreement (PSA) RFP process on behalf of SHOT, solicitating offers for both publishing and member services.

Outcome

After evaluating offers from publishers and conducting in-depth interviews with select RFP finalists, SHOT chose to continue working with its current publisher, JHUP, in a newly refreshed partnership. C&E advised SHOT in its iterative discussions with JHUP, which concluded with a successful contract renewal under new, mutually beneficial terms.

I’m personally incredibly glad that we made the decision to get C&E’s help in navigating this complex process. Your guidance, expertise, and patience has been invaluable. The SHOT team is happy and grateful about the way the process turned out.

Arwen Mohun

President