[LINK] Cost of journals too much for even Harvard

[Jan Whitaker]

[a case for open publishing models]

24 April 2012, 5.12pm AEST

Harvard: journal subscription fees are prohibitive


Harvard Library says it can no longer afford the vast cost of 
academic journal subscriptions, and has advised staff at the 
university to support open access publishing instead.

In a 
<http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k77982&tabgroupid=icb.tabgroup143448>memorandum 
posted on the website of Harvard University, the world's 
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15061374>richest academic 
institution, the Faculty Advisory Council has accused large journal 
publishers of making the current system prohibitively expensive and 
academically restrictive. "This situation is exacerbated by efforts 
of certain publishers (called "providers") to acquire, bundle, and 
increase the pricing on journals," the council wrote.

Subscription prices for online content from two publishers have 
increased by 145% over the past six years, far in excess of not only 
the consumer price index but also the higher education and the 
library price indices, the council said in its memorandum. The annual 
cost to the university for journals is now close to $3.75 million, 
which is more than 20% of all periodical subscription costs and just 
under 10% of all collection costs for everything the library acquired in 2010.

"Some journals cost as much as $40,000 per year, others in the tens 
of thousands," the council wrote.

It conceded that "scholarly output continues to grow and publishing 
can be expensive", but said the publishing industry's profit margins 
of 35% and more suggested that "the prices we must pay do not solely 
result from an increasing supply of new articles.

[more at the link:
http://theconversation.edu.au/harvard-journal-subscription-fees-are-prohibitive-6659




Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

_ __________________ _