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Thanks, Mike Robison 
 
My first article on the subject of the serials crisis was titled "The  
publish or perish boomerang". The basic idea in this article was very  
simple: "The greater the production of scientific articles, the  
lesser the accesabilty to this scientific knowledge." 
 
In my Dutch articles I discussed the common pool problems of the  
library's, the copyrights issue and the monopoly power of the  
publishers at length. My (modest an open for discussion) conclusion  
is, that it is not monopoly power, nor the transfer of copyrights to  
to the publishers, which account for the incredible prices of  
academic journals. It is the organization of our libraries which does  
the trick. Be honest: we say to our librarians: "This journal is  
really important", and we have no idea about the cost. 
 
Mike, the issue with books is not similar to that with journals.  
Compare e.g. the price of an issue of 'Economic Letters" with the  
price of a wonderful book:' A Bibliographical Dictionary of Woman  
Economists'. (Edited by Robert Dimand a.o., published by Edward  
Elgar, I am in it, thus highly recomended.) This fine Elgar book,  
would you like to substitute it on your private book shelves for a  
single copy of Economic Letters? 
 
I do not think that Mike is right when he says that there are only  
two ways to combat the serials crisis. His first suggestion is to  
boycott Reed Elsevier, Kluwer (the Dutch companies) and I could add  
some more (MCB is number one in price in price level, but Blackwell  
is number one in price increase.) 
 
I do not understand Mike's second suggestion. He wrote " the other  
international scientific publishing conglomerate is much better  
about their pricing and their copying rules are less draconian then  
Kluwer's." 
 
The problem is not, in my opinion, monopoly power. This is far to  
easy. Monopoly power depends on the willingness to pay. 
 
My concern is primarily the communication among scolars in the  
history of economic thought. I worry about our journals. Are our  
journals really accesible to everyone who is interested in e.g.  
"Marshall's own views on industrial districts"? 
 
I really would like our societies to put a new and free journal on  
the web. A real international one. I do not think that this is the  
solution to the serials crisis. But I really think that a journal  
like this is in a nick of time an invaluable source of reference for  
every economist who realizes that intellectual history is important  
for what he is doing. 
 
Henk Willem Plasmeijer 
 
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