Does SPARC provide start-up funds for new journals?
SPARC’s financial support of journals generally takes the form of subscriptions placed by its members rather than through direct funding. SPARC provides many other services to its publisher-partners, including: an advisory role in the planning and development phases; advertising, publicity and promotion to the broad marketplace; and sales and marketing focused on encouraging SPARC member purchases. SPARC’s Scientific Communities Initiative, a one-time grant program announced in spring 1999, awarded $500,000 in development funds to three new electronic journals: Columbia Earthscape, MIT CogNet, and eScholarship (California Digital Library). These funds are administered over a three-year period. The awardees are now part of SPARC’s Scientific Communities publisher partner program.
