Are higher ed magazines just under scrutiny or already under attack? 148 higher ed editors weigh in

Times are tough for anybody working on print publications. With tighter budgets come more and more questions related to the costs and ROI of any printed pieces. Magazines are no exception.

In this context, a bit of research never hurts – and can even help balance the need to streamline budgets while keeping readers and stakeholders happy.

Dennis Smith, the managing editor of Innovate (Iowa State University College of Engineering) and Joan Slattery Wall, the editor of News in Engineering (The Ohio State University College of Engineering), have conducted a 13-question survey of their peers at the CASE-CUE listserv from March 25 to April 1st, 2009.

The goal of this survey was to assess the situation of research and alum magazines in higher ed institutions as explained by its authors:

As endowments and budgets for both public and private institutions shrink in the current economic crisis, many communications offices are being asked by administrators to scrutinize and/or justify their print publications and staffing levels. In advance of the 2010 fiscal year, we thought it might be helpful to conduct an unscientific survey of college and university editors and other communications professionals to get a snapshot of where their publications, particularly alumni and research magazines,stand at present.

Close to 150 (148 exactly) of the 1,000 members of the listserv took this survey, and Joan was nice enough to share with me (and you, by extension) the results.

Here are some of the findings of this interesting (if not scientific) survey:

• 72.8% of the respondents manage magazines that have been published for more than 10 years (40% more than 25 years).
• 92.5% of the respondents publish their magazine between 2 and 4 times a year (4 times a year for 32.4%)
• 33.1% have a circulation size between 10,000 to 24,999 copies
  27% between 25,000 and 49,999 copies
  33.1% more than 50,000 copies
• 58.8% of the respondents have a full-production four-color glossy magazine, at least 24 pages (not including cover), with an HTML version available online
  35.1% a full-production four-color glossy magazine, at least 24 pages (not including cover), with no HTML version available online
• The approximate printing and postage total cost per issue ranges between $1 and $1.50 for 40.3% of the respondents, between 75 cents and $1 for 25.7% and exceeds $1.50 in 18.8% of the cases.
• 67.1% of respondents plan to maintain levels of production both in print and on the Web
  12.3% plan to increase the frequency or level of publication of their magazine on the Web and 17.8% to decrease publication of the print version while enhancing publication on the web.
• Only 34.2% of the respondents haven’t been advised or instructed by administrators to review/reduce costs.
  The same proportion – 34.2% – has been asked to produce the magazine at a lower cost while 17.8% of survey respondents have been advised to review the line-up of all their marketing publications including the magazine.
• 54.5% expect a decrease in their budget and staffing levels for 2010 given the current economic situation.

I’ll soon share the results of the survey I conducted a few weeks ago about the state of electronic and print publications in higher education – and as you’ll see things are definitely changing.

My next UB column, scheduled for the June issue, will actually try to provide some useful tips to make the transition from print to Web. I’m wrapping it up as I write these lines, but if you have ideas or good examples to share, feel free to post a comment.