December 15, 2006

Planned Merger of 2 Big Journal Publishers Worries Academic Librarians

By DAVID GLENN

The venerable publisher John Wiley & Sons will celebrate its bicentennial next year, and it has already given itself a present. Last week the company made the surprise announcement that it would purchase Blackwell Publishing Ltd. for about $1.13-billion, an acquisition likely to have broad consequences for the world of academic journals and libraries.

Assuming that the deal is completed, Wiley's scientific, technical, and medical division will be known as Wiley-Blackwell. The

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