What we do
Nine services, all part of one piece of work: moving a journal to a new owner without losing what made it worth owning.
- Sell your journalFor owners
- Acquire a journalPublishers, societies, institutions
- Co-publishing leaseSocieties and universities
- Valuation and due diligenceBoth sides
- Succession planningSocieties, retiring editors, presses
- Managed transferTo NISO’s Transfer Code
- Licensing and subscriptionsInstitutions and libraries
- Post-transfer stewardshipNew owners
- Confidential listingsOn request
Sell your journal
Owners usually come to us when running a journal has become harder than it should be: too little money, too little time, or a founding editor ready to step back. We handle the sale from the first conversation to the last notice.
What it includes
- A confidential valuation of the journal
- Introductions to buyers we have already vetted, never a public listing
- Negotiation of the price and terms on your behalf
- A managed, documented transfer to the new owner
A buyer learns your name and your journal’s name only after signing an NDA. This website takes no documents: once the NDA is signed, we send you a secure upload link.
Acquire a journal
Buyers come to us for journals that fit an existing list or open a new subject. We share opportunities only after you have signed a non-disclosure agreement, and we tell you plainly what we have checked.
What it includes
- Curated opportunities matched to your list, shared after an NDA
- The due-diligence findings for each journal you consider
- Negotiation and the transfer agreement
- A managed handover, and support afterwards
We vet buyers too. Expect questions about who you are and what you plan for the journal. We do not sell to anyone who plans to sell publication slots or to manipulate peer review.
Co-publishing lease
Some societies and universities are barred by their own rules from selling a journal outright. A co-publishing lease lets them keep the title and the ISSN while another party runs the publishing, under written terms and for an agreed period.
What it includes
- A publishing partner we have vetted, found in confidence and never by public advertisement
- The terms written down: the period, the split of revenue, and what happens at the end
- Editorial decisions kept with the society’s own editors
- The same order of work as a sale: NDA, then MOU, then the agreement
Revenue split: on request. Terms are agreed case by case.
Valuation and due diligence
A journal is worth what its record supports. Before a price is agreed we examine that record, and we examine the buyer.
The journal
- Proof of ownership: who holds the title, the domain and the publishing platform
- The ISSN record, and whether it matches the journal as published
- The DOI prefix, and the status of any Crossref title transfer
- Indexing history: where the journal is listed now, and where it has been
- Retractions and corrections
- Hijacked or cloned websites trading on the journal’s name
- Complaints from authors, readers or indexes
The buyer
- Who they are, and who stands behind them
- What they plan to do with the journal
- Whether they mean to sell publication slots or to interfere with peer review: if so, the sale stops there
A first look, free
Type an ISSN and see what OpenAlex and Crossref publicly record about a journal, and what a buyer would look at. It is indicative and is not an appraisal.
A written valuation
For an owner, or a buyer who is weighing a journal, we prepare a written valuation report after a non-disclosure agreement. It is indicative too: nothing we produce is certified, and no registered valuer co-signs it. Fee: on request.
Succession planning
Many journals depend on one person or one small office. When that editor retires, or the office loses its budget, the journal is at risk of lapsing. We help owners plan the handover early, so that the journal keeps publishing through the change.
What it includes
- A frank review of what the journal needs in order to continue
- The options, the timing, and what each would mean for the editorial board
- A transfer plan that leaves no gap in publication
Managed transfer
Once the agreement is signed we manage the handover itself, following NISO’s Transfer Code of Practice 5.0 (NISO RP-24-2026, March 2026), the recommended practice for moving a journal from one publisher to another.
What it includes
- The Crossref title transfer, so that every existing DOI keeps working
- An update to the ISSN record, naming the new publisher
- Notice to every index the journal is in
- The new owner named on the journal’s own website
- A move to a new publishing platform, if one is needed
The aim is a transfer that readers, authors and indexes can see and check, with no broken links along the way.
Licensing and subscriptions
Alongside transfers, we arrange access to journals: institutional subscriptions, online-access licences, and licence terms shaped to what an organisation actually needs.
What it includes
- Institutional subscriptions for libraries and organisations
- Online-access licensing
- Licence terms tailored to an institution or research group, negotiated with the publisher
Post-transfer stewardship
A transfer is not finished when the paperwork is. In the months after, we help new owners keep what made the journal worth acquiring: an independent editorial board and complete, accurate metadata.
What it includes
- Guidance on keeping editorial decisions with the editors
- Checks on the journal’s metadata after the move: DOIs, ISSNs and article records
- Help answering questions from indexes during the change
Confidential listings
If you would like buyers to know a journal is available without its name being made public, we can list it in confidence: vetted buyers see an anonymous outline, and learn more only after signing an NDA. Buyers can register what they are looking for in the same way.
Every service follows the same order of work.
Enquiry, non-disclosure agreement, memorandum of understanding, due diligence, transfer agreement, managed handover, stewardship.