THE SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATIONS

CRISIS: A PUBLIC GOODS

DISSEMINATION MODEL

SERIALS INCREASE

• 1985/86 103,700 SERIALS TITLES

• 1999 161,000 SERIALS TITLES

• INCREASE 55%

SOURCE: ULRICH’S INTERNATIONAL PERIODICALS DIRECTORY

CALIBRATIONSBETWEEN 1986 AND 2000

• CONSUMER PRICE INDEX INCREASED 57%

• COST OF MONOGRAPHS INCREASED 66%

• PRICE OF HEALTH CARE INCREASED 111% (’86-98)

• COST OF SCHOLARLY JOURNALS INCREASED

226%

• ARL LIBRARY BUDGETS INCREASED 105%

 

 

THE PROBLEM

• IF A SERIALS BUDGET WERE $10 MILLION IN 1986, IT WOULD HAVE REQUIRED $32.6 MILLION TO PURCHASE THE SAME NUMBER OF SERIALS IN 2000.

• BUT TO PURCHASE THE SAME PROPORTION OF ALL SERIALS WOULD HAVE REQUIRED A SERIALS BUDGET OF $49.8 MILLION.

• DURING THIS TIME PERIOD THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX ROSE TO 157% OF ITS 1986 LEVEL AND ARL ACQUISITIONS BUDGETS ROSE TO ABOUT 205% OF THEIR 1986 LEVELS.

UNSUSTAINABLE! 1986-2000

0%50%

100%150%200%250%300%350%400%450%500%

Price Increase

Volume Increase

Increase to Keep 1986ProportionLibrary BudgetIncrease

CONSEQUENCES

• ARL SERIALS SUBSCRIPTIONS -7%

• ARL MONOGRAPHS -17%

• IMPACT ON SCHOLARSHIP ?

WHY?

• WE GAVE OUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AWAY TO PRIVATE FIRMS AND SCHOLARLY SOCIETIES.

• THEY HAVE FOUND THEY CAN SELL IT BACK TO US AT PRICES THAT WILL PRODUCE PROFITS AND/OR SUPPORT THE COST OF OTHER ACTIVITIES.

MARKET POWER EXISTS

• NEW ENTRANTS DO NOT REDUCE MARKET POWER

• TOP JOURNALS IN EACH DISCIPLINE HAVE MARKET POWER, that is, THEY CAN RAISE PRICES WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT LOSS OF SUBSCRIPTION VOLUME.

ON AVERAGECOMMERCIAL PUBLISHERS HAVE INCREASED PRICES

MOST.

SCHOLARLY SOCIETIES HAVE ALSO INCREASED

PRICES.

DUNN & BRADSTREET CALCULATES THAT THE PERIODICAL INDUSTRY AVERAGED A 5% NET

PROFIT MARGIN IN 1997.

WOLTERS KLUWER, REED ELSEVIER, WILEY AND PLENUM HAD AN AVERAGE NET PROFIT MARGIN

OF 18.8%.

HAD THE NET PROFIT MARGIN OF THESE FOUR FIRMS BEEN 5%, THEIR CUSTOMERS WOULD

HAVE SAVED $884,653,000.

SOURCE: BRENDAN J. WYLEY, CORNELL UNIVERSITY “COMPETITION IN SCHOLARLY PUBLICATION? WHAT PROFITS REVEAL” IN VIEWS OF THE CURRENT MARKETPLACE

FOR SCHOLARLY JOURNALS, arl

http://www.arl.org/newsltr/200/intro.html (1998).

Reed ElsevierScience Publishing Division

Net Sales Operating Operating

(pounds) Income Margin

1995 532 M 211 M 39.66%

1996 553 M 231 M 41.77%

1997 571 M 230 M 40.28%

1998 622 M 223 M 35.85%

1999 652M 231M 35.43%

2000 693M 252M 36.36%

2001 1,024M 344M 33.59%

Source: Brendan Wyley and ARL Staff

Average Price and Factor of Increase by Type of Publisher: 1975 and 1995

(in Current and Constant Dollars)

TYPE OF PUBLISHER AVERAGE PRICE INCREASE FACTOR IN:

Current Constant 1975 1995 Dollars Dollars

Commercial $55 $487 8.9 3.1

Society 28 229 8.2 2.9

Educational 15 81 5.4 1.9

Others 40 119 3.0 1.1

All 39 284 7.3 2.6

Source: Tenopir and King 1997

JOURNAL AVERAGE PRICE INCREASES BY DISCIPLINARY

CATEGORY – 1999-2003• AGRICULTURE 34.1%

• ANTHROPOLOGY 36.4%

• ART AND ARCHITECTURE 23.8%

• ASTRONOMY 26.3%

• BIOLOGY 30.3%

• Botany 26.7%

• BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS 44.7%

• CHEMISTRY 42.8%

• EDUCATION 47.1%

• ENGINEERING 38.6%

• FOOD SCIENCE 27.6%

• GENERAL SCIENCE 42.2%

• GENERAL WORKS 22.9%

• GEOGRAPHY 44.7%

• GEOLOGY 33.3%

• HEALTH SCIENCES 35.6%

• HISTORY 35.0%

• LANGAUGE & LITERATURE 34.8%

• LAW 41.5%

• LIBRARY & INFO. SCIENCES 33.4%

• MATH AND C. S. 29.4%

• MILITARY SCIENCE 40.6%

• MUSIC 19.1%

• PHILOSOPHY

• & RELIGION 37.8%

• PHYSICS 34.9%

• POLITICAL SCIENCE 51.4%

• PSYCHOLOGY 43.5%

• RECREATION 65.0%

• SOCIOLOGY 44.6%

• TECHNOLOGY 37.2%

• ZOOLOGY 35.6%

• (SOURCE - LIBRARY JOURNAL 2003)

AAU INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY GENERAL

PRINCIPLES• OPEN, FREE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS• PUBLICATION IN SCHOLARLY AND SCIENTIFIC

JOURNALS• MERITOCRACY – REWARDS ARE ON THE BASIS OF

QUALITY OF WORK• ORGANIZED SKEPTICISM – JUDGMENTS WITHHELD

UNTIL IDEAS ARE TESTED• COMMON OWNERSHIP OF GOODS, WHICH HOLDS

THAT RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP ARE PRODUCTS OF SOCIAL COLLABORATIONS AND ARE ASSIGNED ULTIMATELY TO THE COMMUNITY

ALTERNATIVES SOLUTIONS

• DRAMATIC INCREASES IN LIBRARY BUDGETS

• ANTITRUST ACTIVITY

• DECOUPLING – AAU• UNIVERSITY OR FACULTY COPYRIGHT

RETENTION• REDUCE THE AMOUNT PUBLISHED BY

FACULTY• BUYING COOPERATIVES

ALTERNATIVES (Continued)

• SPARC (the SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING & ACADEMIC RESOURCES COALITION)

• DEMAND BY FACULTY THAT SCHOLARLY ASSOCIATIONS RETAIN JOURNALS AND PRICE THOSE JOURNALS AT THE COST OF PRODUCTION

• FACULTY BOYCOTT

• OPEN ARCHIVES-BY UNIVERSITY OR DISCIPLINE

• OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS

• NEAR

VOTING WITH YOUR FEET• VEGETATIO (KLUWER) TO JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE• EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY (now KLUWER) TO EVOLUTIONARY

ECOLOGY RESEARCH • JOURNAL OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIANSHIP (PERGAMON-ELSVIER)

TO PORTAL: LIBRARIES AND THE ACADEMY • JOURNAL OF LOGIC PROGRAMMING (ELSEVIER) TO THEORY AND

PRACTICE OF LOGIC PROGRAMMING • ARCHIVES OF INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY & PHYSIOLOGY (WILEY–

LISS) TO JOURNAL OF INSECT SCIENCE• TOPOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS (ELSEVIER ) TO ALGEBRAIC

AND GEOMETRIC TOPOLOGY • MACHINE LEARNING (KLUWER) TO JOURNAL OF MACHINE

LEARNING RESEARCH • EUROPEAN ECONOMIC REVIEW (ELSEVIER) TO JOURNAL OF THE

EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION (MIT PRESS)

FACULTY BOYCOTT: PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE

PETITIONTo encourage the publishers of our journals to

support this endeavor, we pledge that, beginning in September, 2001, we will publish in, edit or review

for, and personally subscribe to, only those scholarly and scientific journals that have agreed to grant unrestricted free distribution rights to any and

all original research reports that they have published, through PubMed Central and similar

online public resources, within six months of their initial publication date.

As of this date30,000+ scientistsfrom 182 countries

signed.

…..

SINCE SEPT. 1 HAS PASSED

• PLOS received a $9 million grant from the Moore Foundation and in October 2003 has begun the publication of two open access journals. The two journals are free of subscription charges to all and are funded by fees levied on the author of $1,500 per article.

Open Archives Initiative

• PLACE PRE- OR POST-PRINTS ON UNIVERSITY OR COLLECTIVE WEB SITE

• 55% OF JOURNALS PERMIT PRE- OR POST- PRINTS TO BE OPENLY SELF-ARCHIVED (PROJECT ROMEO)

• SOME JOURNALS EXPLICITLY FORBID SELF-ARCHIVING

• MANY JOURNALS WILL GRANT EXCEPTIONS

CONCERNS ABOUT SELF- ARCHIVING

• WILL IT DESTROY THE ECONOMICS OF JOURNALS AND UNDERMINE REFEREEING?

• WILL JOURNALS RESPOND BY REFUSING TO PUBLISH PAPERS THAT ARE SELF-ARCHIVED?

• CAN VOLUNTARY SELF-ARCHIVING EVER BE COMPLETE ENOUGH SUCH THAT ONE CAN RELY ON IT TO ACCESS THE LITERATURE?

• WILL SELF-ARCHIVED ITEMS EVER BE PERMANENTLY ARCHIVED?

OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS

– JOURNALS WITH NO SUBSCRIPTION FEE– 500/24,000 JOURNALS– SUPPORTED BY AUTHOR SUBMISSION FEE,– OR COST ASORBED BY ASSOCIATION,

UNIVERSITY, FUNDING AGENCY, FOUNDATION, ETC.

– WELLCOME FOUNDATION HAS AGREED TO PAY SUBMISSION FEES FOR BRITISH RESEARCHERS

– HUGHES WILL FUND SUBMISSIONS FROM ITS RESEARCHERS TO PLOS JOURNALS

CONCERNS ABOUT AUTHOR –PAY MODEL

• RATE OF INCREASE IN JOURNAL COST MAY BE UNAFFECTED

• TRIED BEFORE & RESULTED IN PRIVATE SECTOR JOURNALS GETTING A FOOTHOLD IN MARKET

• SHIFTS ALL OF JOURNAL COSTS ONTO RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES

• TOXIC WASTE ANALOGY• RESULTS IN A MIXED SYSTEM, AT BEST

Welcome Foundation, April 2004

• Concludes that “ . . . the question facing journal publishers is not whether to offer open access or not, but how to position their journals so that they are able to continue to play an important part in a world in which open access . . . is the norm.”

NEAR

•National Electronic Article Repository

REQUIRE AS A CONDITION OF RECEIVING FEDERAL RESEARCH FUNDS THAT THE AUTHOR OF ANY

SCHOLARLY MANUSCRIPT ARISING OUT OF THE FUNDED PROJECT WOULD GRANT EXCLUSIVE

COPYRIGHT TO A JOURNAL FOR NO MORE THAN 90 (OR 180) DAYS.

AFTER THE FIXED EXCLUSIVE COPYRIGHT PERIOD ENDS, REQUIRE THAT THE ARTICLE,IN THE FORM IN WHICH IT WAS PUBLISHED, BE PLACED ON A

PUBLICALLY ACCESSIBLE WEBSITE MAINTAINED BY THE FUNDING AGENCY.

THE AUTHOR COULD ALSO PLACE THE ARTICLE ON THEIR OWN OR THEIR UNIVERSITY’S WEBSITE.

NEAR IS . . .

• A FORM OF SELF-ARCHIVING

• OPEN ACCESS WITH A DELAY

• IMPOSSIBLE FOR JOURNALS TO DEFEAT

• INEFFECTIVE FOR JOURNALS PUBLISHING NON-FUNDED RESEARCH

Recommendations For Faculty

• Retain the right to post your articles on a publicly accessible website

• Self-archive your work• Ensure that your professional society retains

its journals and prices them at cost• Support efforts to keep public goods public• Don’t submit your work to very expensive

journals

Notwithstanding the above language, I reserve the right to use this manuscript in my teaching and research, for my colleagues at the University of X to use this manuscript in their teaching and research, and I also reserve the right to place an electronic copy of this manuscript on a publicly accessible web site.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

WWW.CREATECHANGE.ORG