The Crisis in Scholarly Communication:

Impact and Solutions

	Library Materials Budget Reduction
	Journal Cancellations
	FAQs
	The Crisis in Scholarly Communication
	What Can Faculty Do?
	SHERPA

 

As stated on the e-library @ Iowa State University web site, the current system of scholarly communication is changing. Libraries and their institutions can no longer keep up with the increasing volume and cost of scholarly resources. The promise of the digital revolution to decrease costs and increase access has been thwarted by commercial publishers interested in maximizing revenues through raising prices and restricting use. Projects and proposals to transform the system are being shaped primarily by stakeholders outside of the faculty.

High Costs for Print Journals and Books

The e-library @ Iowa State University Web site reports the following information on the high costs for print journals and books:

- Academic libraries in the U.S. spent 152% more to purchase 7% fewer journal titles in 1998 than in 1986. While the Consumer Price Index went up 49% from 1986 to 1998, the cost of journals went up 175%.

- Journals have gone up in price an average of 9% a year since 1986, while the consumer price has increased only 3.4% a year.

- The major players in science journal publishing, and increasingly in social science journal publishing, are commercial publishers who report profit margins of 20-40%.

- Academic libraries in the U.S. are purchasing 25% fewer monographs today than they did 15 years ago due to high journal prices.

Escalating Journal Costs

With the already high cost of scholarly journals inflating at double - digit rates each year, libraries found that their backs were against the wall by the mid 1980s and they were forced to begin canceling subscriptions. This in turn forced publishers to raise prices for the remaining library subscribers, which in turn forced more libraries to cancel even more journals.

The current situation is that every year there are more journals published, every year libraries subscribe to fewer of them, and every year the price of existing scholarly journals rises.

Pricing examples:

- Journal of Comparative Neurology-- $7,956 per year in 1995 - $17,859 per year in 2003

- Journal of Applied Polymer Science-- $5772 per year in 1995 - $13,780 per year in 2003

- American Journal of Medical Genetics -- $3,573 per year in 1995 - $8,331 per year in 2003

This crisis in scholarly communication is world wide. Cornell University has created a unique web site entitled "Sticker Shock"; that dramatically illustrates the sky rocketing costs of scholarly journals. For additional information on escalating journal prices, especially in the sciences, see:

Monograph and Serial Costs in ARL Libraries, 1986-2002
Create Change: Highest Price Journals
Cornell Journal Price Study
Measuring the Cost Effectiveness of Journals: The Wisconsin Experience
Biomedical Journal Costs and Trends (Indiana University Medical Library)
Ruminations on the Sci-Tech Serials Crisis -- Emily R. Mobley
HARRASSOWITZ Price Comparison of STM Journals

Further reading on the crisis in scholarly communication and proposed solutions:

"Reforming Scholarly Publishing in the Sciences: A Librarian Perspective." Notices of the American Mathematical Society, April 1998, Volume 45, No. 4

The Impact of Serial Costs on Library Collections. ARL Bimonthly Report 218, October 2001

Scholars' Forum: A New Model For Scholarly Communication

The Future of Scholarly Communication: A Proposal for Change.

"Principles for Emerging Systems of Scholarly Publishing."

 

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