Joy Kirchner Virginia Tech Libraries Jan , Economics: The Not-So-Hidden Costs
peer-reviewed articles per year peer-reviewed journals scholarly publishers (est.)
Journal publisher size guide Petite (5 or fewer) 54% Small (6-10)11% Medium (11-25)16% Large (26-50) 8% X-Large (51-100) 4% XX-Large (100+) 7% Scholarly publishing practice: academic journal publishers’ policies and practices in online publishing, 3 rd survey, ALPSP, 2008
societies & other non- profits university presses commercial publishers
revenue in 2009 STM sector Data from Simba Information 2010 publishing industry reports
Steelmakers Auto manufacturersConsumers Steel $$ Cars $$ Typical economy
AuthorLibrary JournalArticle Publisher $ $ $ $ Gift economy P&T Grants Reputation Prestige
Publisher © wholesale transfer of rights creates scarcity/monopoly drives prices up (inelastic market)
Average serial price up 227% Average book price up 65% CPI up 57% The result:
Libraries challenge pricing power Publishers try to sustain revenue flow Tying print to online Bundling journals Requiring multi-yr contracts Buying other publishers Raising prices Subsidizing journal start-ups Canceling journals Educating faculty authors Forming consortia Fighting mer gers
Roger Clarke, The cost profiles of alternative approaches to journal publishing, First Monday, 3 December 2007 Cost to produce one journal article Average journal article XYZ Commercial Publisher Amsterdam, London, New York My Facuty, PhD Average journal article ABC Not-for- Profit Publisher My Facuty, PhD
9% $ 91% dollars 62% citations 38% citations Economics of quality?
From Outsell’s Open Access Primer (Public Version), December 2009 U.S. Library Spending, R&D Spending, and Journals External Economic Pressures on Journals Market
Elsevier stock just downgraded to “underperform” From Bernstein Research (March10, 2011) “Reed Elsevier: The Inevitable Crunch Point—Downgrading to Underperform Because of Growing Concerns on Elsevier”
Scholarly communications reform includes efforts to establish balanced, sustainable economic models
Long-term solution may include shifting of library funds from collecting to producing or subsidizing scholarly content
Questions?Comments?
This work was created by Lee Van Orsdel for the ACRL National Conference, Scholarly Communications 101 Workshop and last updated by Joy Kirchner on January 5, It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.