Introduction

The essence of marketing is to have a product that people want or need, at a price they can afford, and to get a convincing message to them. Anyone developing a product should have a clear idea of how it will be sold and who will buy it. Publishing is no exception: some journals have had no more than ten or twenty subscribers six months after publication of the first issue and have folded before the end of the first volume. Although this chapter follows those on editorial and production, the market should always be considered before any decision to publish is made.

The market for learned journals differs from that for most consumer goods. Firstly, the total achievable market for a learned journal is small; it may only be a few hundred and most have fewer than 5000 non-member subscribers. Secondly, it is international. An English-language scientific journal published in the USA or Western Europe might have subscribers in fifty or a hundred countries. The geographical distribution of subscribers varies with subject, but, in rough terms, about one-third of the subscribers to an international scientific journal published in Europe might be in the USA and Canada; one-third in Europe (10 per cent in the UK); and one-third elsewhere, with perhaps 10 per cent in Japan and 5 per cent in Australia and New Zealand. Journals published in the USA often have a higher proportion of subscribers in North America. Another difference from most products is that the purchasers are often not the users; many subscribers are libraries buying for their readers.