Brad Brazzeal Agriculture, Forest Resources & Extension Librarian

“that branch of agriculture devoted to the theory, practice, and scientific management of soil, land, and field-crop production” Lewis, R. A. (2002). CRC Dictionary of Agricultural Sciences. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

This study provides two snapshots of electronic availability of JCR listed agronomy journals at 8 ARL libraries serving institutions with doctoral programs in agronomy. First snapshot taken in 2007, and the follow-up was in 2013.

“Information-seekers … expect seamless access to resources such as full text e-journals, online foreign- language materials, e-books, a variety of electronic publishers’ platforms, and virtual reference desk services.” (emphasis added) Connaway, L., Dickey, T. J., & Radford, M. L. (2011). “If it is too inconvenient I'm not going after it:” Convenience as a critical factor in information-seeking behaviors. Library & Information Science Research, 33,

Why am I being asked to pay for this article? Why can’t I access the most recent issue of this journal? Does the library provide access to SpringerLink?

 To what extent are research libraries providing online access to agronomy journals?  How is this access provided?  Direct from publishers?  Through aggregators?  Other sources or a combination?  How has this access changed over time?

 Criteria for journal selection  Inclusion in the agronomy category of the 2005 Journal Citation Reports (n=47)  Criteria for library selection  Member of the Association of Research Libraries  PhD program in agronomy  Allowed access to e-journals list without authentication

 Libraries at the following institutions met the criteria  Cornell University  Louisiana State University  Oklahoma State University  Pennsylvania State University  Texas Tech University  University of Florida  University of Georgia  University of Wisconsin  A convenience sample rather than a random sample

 Searched the e-journals list of each library (and catalog when needed)  Made screen-shots of the holdings for each journal  Created an Excel spreadsheet  Limited analysis to access under current title

 Journals with no e-access at any of the institutions  Current access vs. embargoed/limited* access  Aggregator dependent access  Access to all issues by major publishers  JSTOR access  Gold open access * “Limited” is used to describe access that stopped at a certain point for reasons such as journal cancellations.

The following journals were not available in electronic format at any of the 8 institutions in  Advances in Agronomy  Allelopathy Journal  American Journal of Potato Research  Biological Agriculture & Horticulture  Cereal Research Communications  International Sugar Journal  Journal of the American Pomological Society  Maydica  Nippon Nogeikagaku Kaishi-Journal of the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology and Agrochemistry  Seed Science & Technology  Soil and Crop Science Society of Florida Proceedings  Tropical Grasslands

The journals in bold were not available in electronic format at any of the 8 institutions in  Advances in Agronomy  Allelopathy Journal  American Journal of Potato Research  Biological Agriculture & Horticulture  Cereal Research Communications  International Sugar Journal  Journal of the American Pomological Society  Maydica  Nippon Nogeikagaku Kaishi-Journal of the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology and Agrochemistry  Seed Science & Technology  Soil and Crop Science Society of Florida Proceedings  Tropical Grasslands

 Allelopathy Journal  Academic Search Complete (2009-present)  Four institutions had access  Journal of the American Pomological Society  ProQuest Research Library ( )  Three institutions had access The journals below were only available through aggregators at the institutions studied in 2013.

InstitutionCurrent Access 2007 Current Access 2013 Embargoed/ Limited 2007 Embargoed/ Limited 2013 Institution Institution Institution Institution Institution Institution Institution Institution Average “Limited” is used to describe access that stopped at a certain point for reasons such as journal cancellations.

InstitutionAggregator Only Access in 2007 Aggregator Only Access in 2013 Access Complemented by Aggregators in 2007 Access Complemented by Aggregators 2013 Institution Institution Institution Institution Institution Institution Institution Institution Average

 Four current publishers accounted for 30 titles  Elsevier  Springer  Acquired two of the journals between 2007 and 2013  Taylor & Francis  Acquired three of the journals between 2007 and 2013  Wiley-Blackwell  Following charts show access to the complete run of the journals, regardless of source  For consistency, even one year of no access was counted as not having access to all issues

Journal Title and Year of First Publication Under Title Institutions with Access to All in 2007 Institutions with Access to All in 2013 Advances in Agronomy (1949)00 Agricultural & Forest Meteorology (1984)47 Agricultural Water Management (1976)47 Crop Protection (1982)47 European Journal of Agronomy (1992*)00 Field Crops Research (1978)47 Industrial Crops & Products (1992)26 Postharvest Biology & Technology (1991)47 * Access in ScienceDirect started with volume 5 (1996) at 7 institutions and with volume 8 (1998) at the other.

Journal Title and Year of First Publication Under Title Institutions with Access to All in 2007 Institutions with Access to All in 2013 Agroforestry Systems (1982)06 Agronomie (1981) (changed to Agronomy for Sustainable Development in 2005*) 01 American Journal of Potato Research (1998*)08 Euphytica (1952)06 European Journal of Plant Pathology (1994)06 Genetic Resources & Crop Evolution (1992)06 Molecular Breeding (1995)06 Plant & Soil (1948)06 Theoretical & Applied Genetics (1968)06 * Titles moved to Springer in 2011 and 2008 respectively. ** In 2007, earliest access to Springer titles was 1996.

Journal Title and Year of First Publication Under Title Institutions with Access to All in 2007 Institutions with Access to All in 2013 Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica B (1992)00 Biological Agriculture & Horticulture (1982*)00 Communications in Soil Science & Plant Analysis (1970) 02 New Zealand Journal of Crop & Horticultural Science (1989**) 02 Soil Science & Plant Nutrition (1961***)04 * Formerly published by AB Academic Press. ** Moved to Taylor & Francis in 2010 *** Published by Wiley-Blackwell then moved to Taylor & Francis.

Journal Title and Year of First Publication Under Title Institutions with Access to All in 2007 Institutions with Access to All in 2013 Grass & Forage Science (1979)1 5* Irrigation & Drainage (2001)58 Journal of Agronomy & Crop Science (1986)2 7** Journal of Plant Nutrition & Soil Science (1999) 57 Pest Management Science (2000)58 Plant Breeding (1986)13 Plant Pathology (1952)1 4* Weed Research (1961)0 6* * One institution depended upon Environment Complete for access to issues before 1995 or ** Access for only through EBSCO aggregators at the 7 institutions.

 Of all 47 journals, only 2 included in JSTOR  Weed Science  Weed Technology  Current access through BioOne  All institutions had access to all issues of these journals

 Breeding Science (1999-present)  Journal of the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology and Agrochemistry ( ) (title ceased in 2004)  Maydica (2002-present)  Plant Production Science (1998-present)  Tropical Grasslands ( ) (title ceased in 2010)

 Access to e-journal content increased from 2007 to 2013, but online access is far from complete  Aggregators continue to be an important source of content at some research libraries  Journals published by agronomy-related societies have made some movements towards open access

Brad Brazzeal Agriculture, Forest Resources & Extension Librarian Mississippi State University Libraries