Since serials impose long-term and complex fiscal and physical commitments, they are selected, purchased, and shelved in a manner appropriate to their format. The amount of money the library spends on serials has a definite impact on its commitment to monograph purchasing. It is only after the invoices for serials are paid that the balance can be safely alloted among the departments for monograph selection.
Many serials undergo title changes or merge in whole or in part with other titles.
A publication might change its content based on an editorial decision to broaden or narrow its scope or expand its subscriber base. Many serials are not reviewed by easily accessible publications and hence, must be evaluated using complimentary issues, publishers' promotions, reputation among colleagues, or techniques such as citation analysis. The number of interlibrary loan requests for the title, purchases of articles from UnCover , or requests for the title logged at the reference desk, or the title's inclusion in basic indexing and abstracting services, may all be factors influencing a decision on whether to subscribe. The following should be considered when evaluating a serial for the collection, in addition to criteria already listed for monographs in Sec. In many universities, only articles accepted by scholarly journals which have adopted a peer review process are considered as evidence for promotion or tenure.