Category Archives: oa.prices

MIT Terminates Elsevier Contract Over Open Access Dispute

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“In an unprecedented move last year, the University of California system terminated journal negotiations with Elsevier over open access issues and higher costs. Last month MIT did the same, saying the publisher’s proposal did not align with the MIT Framework for Publisher Contracts. The UC system includes more than 280,000 students and over 227,000 faculty staff. MIT has roughly 24,000 students, faculty and staff in its system.

Developed in 2019, MIT’s Framework creates a mechanism to ensure research is freely and immediately available, while recognizing that the value in published papers lies with the authors and institutions that support them. Since it’s debut, more than 100 institutions have endorsed the MIT Framework in recognition of its potential to advance open scholarship….”

APC Price Changes – When does up mean down? – Delta Think

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“Headline APC price changes can belie the true impact of pricing on total spend.

As we have mentioned in previous analyses, the spread of prices within a given publisher’s portfolio is an important factor in understanding total spend. So too is the volume of papers affected by the price change. We need to combine different data to unpick how headline price increases might translate into total expenditure or revenue (for buyer or seller respectively.)

This all requires good data of course. By combining multiple data sets at scale, we can see what price changes mean for a publisher, or across an institution. Given data specific to an organization, we could further tailor the analysis to meet its specific situation. Canny operators can use the principles to optimize their pricing positions – whichever side of the negotiating table they sit.

Participants in negotiations of course want to present themselves in the best possible light. By combining neutral data at scale, we try to look behind the headlines and arrive at an objective conclusion that could be used as evidence acceptable to all.”

APC Price Changes – When does up mean down? – Delta Think

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“Headline APC price changes can belie the true impact of pricing on total spend.

As we have mentioned in previous analyses, the spread of prices within a given publisher’s portfolio is an important factor in understanding total spend. So too is the volume of papers affected by the price change. We need to combine different data to unpick how headline price increases might translate into total expenditure or revenue (for buyer or seller respectively.)

This all requires good data of course. By combining multiple data sets at scale, we can see what price changes mean for a publisher, or across an institution. Given data specific to an organization, we could further tailor the analysis to meet its specific situation. Canny operators can use the principles to optimize their pricing positions – whichever side of the negotiating table they sit.

Participants in negotiations of course want to present themselves in the best possible light. By combining neutral data at scale, we try to look behind the headlines and arrive at an objective conclusion that could be used as evidence acceptable to all.”

University of Michigan Press extends free-to-read ebook access, announces flat pricing for 2021, and requests library investment – University of Michigan Press Blog

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“University of Michigan Press (UMP) will extend free-to-read access to the University of Michigan Press Ebook Collection (UMP EBC) until the end of August 2020, strengthening its support of students, librarians, and faculty who need ebook access as they continue to transition to online learning and teaching. 

Additionally, in recognition of the budget constraints that many libraries now face as a result of COVID-19, UMP will also keep UMP EBC prices flat for the 2021 calendar year….”

Jisc and Universities UK call for publishers to reduce their fees to maintain access to essential teaching and learning materials | Jisc

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“The Universities UK Jisc content negotiation strategy group is calling on major academic publishers to seek reductions of 25% on all agreements in light of the severe financial impact institutions are facing because of the pandemic.

In a joint letter on behalf of the sector, the strategy group recognises the tremendous support publishers have offered to institutions and colleges as they responded by opening up their content and collections during the start of the crisis. The focus of institutions is now on preparing for online delivery in September and examining what digital content they can afford to maintain access against the budgetary efficiencies they will need to deliver….”

Jisc and Universities UK call for publishers to reduce their fees to maintain access to essential teaching and learning materials | Jisc

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“The Universities UK Jisc content negotiation strategy group is calling on major academic publishers to seek reductions of 25% on all agreements in light of the severe financial impact institutions are facing because of the pandemic.

In a joint letter on behalf of the sector, the strategy group recognises the tremendous support publishers have offered to institutions and colleges as they responded by opening up their content and collections during the start of the crisis. The focus of institutions is now on preparing for online delivery in September and examining what digital content they can afford to maintain access against the budgetary efficiencies they will need to deliver….”

SpringerOpen 2019 – 2020 | Sustaining the Knowledge Commons / Soutenir les savoirs communs

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By Anqi Shi & Heather Morrison

Abstract

307 SpringerOpen titles for which we have data on journals that were fully open at some point from 2010 to the present were studied, with a primary focus on pricing and status changes from 2019 – 2020 and a secondary focus on longitudinal status changes. Of the 307 titles, 226 are active, fully open access and are still published by SpringerOpen, 40 have ceased publication, 19 were transferred to another publisher, and 18 journals that were formerly open access are now hybrid. 6 of these journals transitioned from free to hybrid in the past year. An additional 2 journals were not found. An additional 2 journals were not found. Of the 226 active journals published by SpringerOpen, 51% charge APCs. The average APC is 1,233 EUR, an increase of 3% over the 2019 average. 46.5% of the 101 journals for which we have 2019 and 2020 data did not change in price; 13.9% decreased in price; and 39.6% increased in price. The extent of change in price was substantial, ranging from a 50% price drop to a 94% price increase.

Frontiers 2020: a third of journals increase prices by 45 times the inflation rate | Sustaining the Knowledge Commons / Soutenir les savoirs communs

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A third of the journals published by Frontiers in 2019 and 2020 (20 / 61 journals) have increased in price by 18% or more (up to 55%). This is quite a contrast with the .4% Swiss inflation rate for 2019 according to Worlddata.info ; 18% is 45 times the inflation rate. This is an even more marked contrast with the current and anticipated economic impact of COVID; according to Le News, “A team of economic experts working for the Swiss government forecasts a 6.7% fall in GDP”. (Frontiers’ headquarters is in Switzerland).

Exact Editions Freezes Institutional Subscription Prices for 2020/2021

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“Exact Editions Freezes Institutional Subscription Prices for 2020/2021

The prices of digital institutional subscriptions to hundreds of magazine archives through digital publishers Exact Editions will be frozen for the 2020/2021 academic year. This decision comes in recognition of the unprecedented financial repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and the budget uncertainties that may lie ahead.”

Journal subscription expenditure in the UK 2010-2019 | Zenodo

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“This dataset contains payments made by UK higher education institutions for access to academic journals from ten publishers from 2010-2019. The data was obtained by sending Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to institutions through the website What Do They Know. The requests, and all original source data, can be found at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/user/stuart_lawson/requests.

The total expenditure with these ten publishers from 2010-2019 was over £982 million. This includes some gaps in the data, so the true figure is almost certainly greater than £1 billion.

The data was originally produced in three stages:

– Data for 2010-14 was published at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1186832

– Data for 2015-16 was published at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4542433

– Data for 2017-19 was published at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3828461

These three datasets contain direct links to the original FOI requests. The present dataset is a combination of these three datasets and contains no additional data….”