Newsletter on Serial Pricing Issues 105 (FEBRUARY 1, 1994) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/nspi/nspi-ns105 ISSN: 1046-3410 NEWSLETTER ON SERIALS PRICING ISSUES NO 105 -- FEBRUARY 1, 1994 Editor: Marcia Tuttle CONTENTS 105.1 FAXON PRICE PROJECTIONS FOR 1995 SUBSCRIPTIONS, Ron Akie 105.2 BALANCING LITIGATION COST AND SERVICE, William Jaco 105.3 STM INTENSIVE COURSE IN STM JOURNAL PUBLISHING, Lex Lefebvre 105.4 FROM THE MAILBOX 105.1 FAXON PRICE PROJECTIONS FOR 1995 SUBSCRIPTIONS Ron Akie, The Faxon Company, AKIE@faxon.com. Based on the latest information on publisher price increases, world econom- ic conditions, and the current and projected values of the U.S. dollar, Faxon is projecting the following changes in journal subscription prices for 1995 subscriptions. Please note that these are very preliminary projec- tions based on current conditions and are subject to change as the year progresses. Inflation Publisher Currency Total + Increases + Exchange = Incr. ______________________________________________________ US Titles 2.9% 7.0% 0.0% 9.9% Non-US Titles (Publishers with fixed currency exch. rates or prices in US dollars) 2.5% 9.0% 0.7% 12.2% Non-US Titles (publishers with variable exch. rates) 2.4% 7.0% - 0.9% 8.5% Typical Overall Collection: 10.5% Publisher increases will result primarily from added pages and the need to recover revenue lost due to continued subscription cancellations. Inflation worldwide is expected to remain at moderate levels. At this time, most economists expect the US dollar to remain strong throughout the next year, moderating overall increases on non-US journals for the second year in a row. 1994 Actual Subscription Price Increases: For 1994 subscriptions, Faxon's projections since May 1993 proved accurate: May 1993 Actual 1994 Projection Increase __________________________________ US Titles 10.0% 9.0% Non-US titles - Fixed exch. rate - 1.2% - 1.9% Non-US Titles - variable exch. rate 3.1% 2.9% Typical Overall Collection: 6.2% 5.7% 105.2 BALANCING LITIGATION COST AND SERVICE William Jaco, Executive Director, American Mathematical Society, ams@math.ams.org. [This editorial is reprinted with permission from _Notices of the American Mathematical Society_, vol. 40, no. 10 (December 1993), p. 1330. -ed.] This issue of the _Notices_ contains the fourth AMS Survey of American Research Journals (pages 1339-1344). Over ten years ago the Society decided that periodically compiling and publishing cost comparison studies of re- search journals would benefit the entire mathematical community. These surveys use public information available to librarians, department heads, or individual mathematicians. However, compiling, organizing, and dissemi- nating this information is a chore an individual is unlikely to take on. This is a good example of how the AMS can serve the broad mathematical community through collective representation. Following the first AMS survey, published in November 1983, the AMS re- ceived notification from attorneys for Gordon & Breach (G&B) Scientific Publishers, Inc., objecting to the survey as it related to G&B journals. The AMS yielded to pressure not to publish a complete survey, and in its second survey, published in March 1986, the AMS did not include Gordon & Breach journals. However, when it published its third survey in November 1989, the AMS included data on Gordon & Breach journals, data which had been modified and verified by G&B and returned to the AMS for publication. After publication of the third survey, attorneys for Gordon & Breach wrote to the AMS demanding a retraction. The January 1990 _Notices_ carried com- ment in this column on the threat to the journal price survey posed by the actions of Gordon & Breach. In February 1990, without any hearing that included the AMS, Gordon & Breach brought suit against the AMS in a German court and obtained an injunction barring the AMS from distributing in Ger- many any journal price survey that included journals published by G&B. A history of this lawsuit against the AMS and related lawsuits brought by Gordon & Breach against the American Institute of Physics (AIP) and the American Physical Society (APS) appears in an article on pages 1337-1338 in this issue of the _Notices_. The actions filed in Germany by Gordon & Breach against AIP and APS are slightly different from those against the AMS; in addition, G&B has taken court actions against AIP and APS in France, Switzerland, and (recently) the U.S. Since all but the last of these cases were in progress when Gordon & Breach took action against the Society, AMS counsel advised awaiting the outcomes of these cases, as they could guide the AMS in its actions. The outcome in Germany went in favor of AIP/APS. Based on the court's position in the AIP/APS case and the case for the AMS, both U.S. and German counsel for the Society believe the AMS is in a strong position in Germany and chances are good for having the injunction lifted. The AMS does not agree with the actions taken by Gordon & Breach. However, after considerable study of the issues and the financial risk that the AMS would incur in taking legal action, the Board of Trustees decided to take no direct legal action at this time. This was an extremely difficult deci- sion because of the importance of the issues surrounding the cost of re- search journals and because the Gordon & Breach actions prevent an open flow of information and open debate, which are in the best interest of the community. The AMS is making every attempt to serve the community in keep- ing the cost of research journals low, and therefore argues strongly for the open flow of information and open debate on the cost of research jour- nals. And yet, the Society is in a rather strange position because the funds needed for the AMS to take legal action would have to be drawn from revenue the AMS receives from its membership and the library community. Therefore, legal action by the AMS could result in increased cost of AMS research journals. This was deemed unacceptable by the Trustees, hence their decision to take no legal action at this time. There is increasingly vocal opposition to the rising cost of research jour- nals. But the single most effective voice may be the research mathemati- cians themselves, those mathematicians who make up the editorial boards of the journals and who publish in the journals. In addition, it is primarily these mathematicians who insist that their libraries have available all the important literature. As long as we, the mathematicians, support and serve the high-cost research journals, they will persist. 105.3 STM INTENSIVE COURSE IN STM JOURNAL PUBLISHING Lex Lefebvre, STM Secretary, Amersfoort, The Netherlands. 8th Intensive Course in STM Journal Publishing for Middle Management, 1-4 March 1994. To be held at Leeuwenhorst Congres Centrum, Langelaan 2, Noord- wijkerhout, The Netherlands, tel. +31 2523 7888. For many years, the STM Serials Committee has been running this course on primary journal publishing at regular intervals at a number of places each side of the Atlantic, run by Jamie Cameron and Gillian Page. These courses have proved to be successful and popular and their main feature is the use of two case studies for which the participants are divided into small groups in which everyone participates. FOR WHOM? This course is intended for "middle management." By this we mean people who have (or expect to have soon) management responsibilities for journals and includes those moving into journals from other areas of STM publishing. It is aimed at people involved in all functions of STM journal publishing: marketing, editorial, production, finance, distribution, copy- right, etc. SUBJECT MATTER: The case study/workshop method, having proved to be ex- tremely effective, will be used throughout and presents a significant chal- lenge to those participating. In addition to the work on two cases there will be papers from experts on a number of aspects of journal publishing, including some of the more recent developments in the area of new technolo- gy. The NLG 1495.00 (members) or NLG 1595.00 (non-members) fee for registration includes accommodation for three nights, three breakfasts, four luncheons, three dinners, conference facilities and hand-outs. For more information, please contact STM, Muurhuizen 165, 3811 EG Amers- foort. Fax: 31 3 65 65 38. 105.4 FROM THE MAILBOX The mailbox is: tuttle@gibbs.oit.unc.edu >From Fred Friend (University College London), ucylfjf@ucl.ac.uk: I enjoyed the contribution from Pat Dominguez and Luke Swindler (102.1). The comparison with the health care debate is valid. If UK newspapers are correct it is not just the rising cost of health care that is troubling US citizens, but also the feeling that you are not getting good value for money, that health care provision is no better as a result of the higher cost. It is decreasing value for money that is also at the heart of the serials debate. Why are we paying so much more for journal articles that are never read? I cannot believe that the same journals which UCL staff and students used in 1993 will be of 26% more academic value in 1994, but we are being asked to pay 26% more for them in cash. As to what we do about it, Dominguez and Swindler express the frustration we all feel. As in health care there may have to be radical changes in the system. But in the meanwhile we have to get across to publishers what our priorities are -- in my view firm prices and cost related to use or value. I have just written to Gordon and Breach pointing out that only Gordon and Breach titles are being cancelled by UCL at this time, and that we have chosen their titles firstly because they no longer represent value for money in terms of cost per use, and secondly because G & B only gave ap- proximate prices for the titles in question. In effect I believe we have to be as hard-headed as the publishers themselves and not buy a product of which we do not know the price and which we know will only receive low use. Stephen Cohn's explanation of Duke's policy (103) shows that some publish- ers do listen to the purchaser's point of view. I get the impression that other publishers only listen to their accountants. If we present the pur- chaser's point of view to them and they ignore it, they cannot complain if we cancel their journals. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Statements of fact and opinion appearing in the _Newsletter on Serials Pricing Issues_ are made on the responsibility of the authors alone, and do not imply the endorsement of the editor, the editorial board, or the Uni- versity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Readers of the NEWSLETTER ON SERIALS PRICING ISSUES are encouraged to share the information in the newsletter by electronic or paper methods. We would appreciate credit if you quote from the newsletter. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The NEWSLETTER ON SERIALS PRICING ISSUES (ISSN: 1046-3410) is published by the editor through the Office of Information Technology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as news is available. Editor: Marcia Tuttle, Internet: tuttle@gibbs.oit.unc.edu; Paper mail: Serials Department, CB #3938 Davis Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC 27514-8890; Telephone: 919 962-1067; FAX: 919 962-4450. Editorial Board: Deana Astle (Clemson University), Jerry Curtis (Springer Verlag New York), Janet Fisher (MIT Press), Fred Friend (University College, London), Charles Hamaker (Louisiana State University), Daniel Jones (University of Texas Health Science Center), James Mouw (University of Chicago), and Heather Steele (Blackwell's Periodicals Division). 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