On 5-Jul-09, at 4:37 AM, Jan Velterop wrote: So it seems double-dipping unless it's honest? Perhaps it's honest unless it's clearly double-dipping.
A very wide-spread misconception, on this list and elsewhere, is that subscriptions somehow are priced linearly. Comment: Publisher revenue is indeed linear. If 10% of last year's revenue stream is coming from publication charges, prices should be decreased by 10%. OR, libraries and others such as funding agencies, departments, etc., should not support the publication charges. This may help explain why submissions are growing at fully open access journals at a greater rate than the hybrid open access choice models - for example, PLoS One is already among the world's largest journals, and may well become THE largest journal by 2010. If I have missed a success story list this from the open choice model, it would be appreciate if someone could fill me in. Jan Velterop wrote: Another characteristic of subscriptions is that, in science in any case (due to the monopoloid nature of journals and the uniqueness of articles), they are utterly inelastic in economic terms. Or rather, somewhat elastic in one direction, but inelastic in the opposite one. When prices go up, there is a chance of cancellation. When prices go down, there is essentially no chance of selling more subscriptions. Comments: On decreasing prices: in library consortial deals, it is very common for pricing for individual libraries to decrease considerably over publisher list price, while the publisher / vendor receives maximum revenue through a larger customer base and (often) the efficiencies of central billing. On inelasticity: I would argue that the inelastic market has already passed its prime. Today, any researcher or group of researchers can easily disseminate their own research results through repositories, and/or set up their own open access journals, at minimal expense. Publishers that have relied on an inelastic market in the past, would be well advised to prepare for a future where there is competition. Any opinion expressed in this e-mail is that of the author alone, and does not represent the opinion or policy of BC Electronic Library Network or Simon Fraser University Libraries. Heather Morrison, MLIS The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com