Taylor & Francis Acquires Gordon and Breach Publishing Group

Staff -- Library Journal, 2/26/2001

The Taylor & Francis Group announced the acquisition of the publishing division of the Gordon and Breach Publishing Group. Officials say the sale will include Harwood Academic but exclude art book and magazine publishing. Gordon and Breach publishes more than 250 journals and approximately 100 books each year. In announcing the acquisition, Taylor & Francis officials said they would immediately begin working to enhance the overall quality of service to subscribers. Librarians have complained for years about litigious threats by Gordon and Breach following pricing studies that were critical of Gordon and Breach journals. The most famous example, is the 14-year-old case argued in four countries against the American Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society over the late University of Wisconsin professor Henry Barschall's 1988 price study that showed Gordon and Breach journals to be among the worst performers from a pricing standpoint. The case is currently being prepared on appeal for the Supreme Court of France. Neither Gordon and Breach nor Taylor & Francis officials returned phone calls by press time to comment on whether the suit would now be dropped.