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Journal Costs & Big Deals

Paywall: The Business of Scholarship
Learn more about the for-profit academic publishing industry in this documentary.

Resources that academic libraries subscribe to and provide access to are rising in cost beyond the normal inflation index. This issue is of supreme importance. W&M Libraries, with other universities in the state, analyzed our own journal subscriptions, particularly those subscriptions which we have with the top academic publishers in the world: Reed Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley-Blackwell, SAGE, and Taylor & Francis. 

The business model for each of these companies includes annual inflation rates of 3 or 4% for journal subscriptions in large packages (sometimes referred to as “big deals”). When purchased a la carte, inflation is even higher – 6-12% per title every year. This rate of inflation outpaces any other sector of the U.S. economy:  health insurance, the Consumer Price Index, the Higher Education Price Index, and beyond. It’s an unsustainable and unstable situation.

We present here highlights on the costs of our largest four journal packages along with other details about how these subscriptions operate.

Find out more

Key W&M Journal Packages | 2022

Publisher

Elsevier

Springer

Wiley

SAGE

Total Journals Available 52 2272 1660 1239
W&M cost for journal subscriptions this year $209,746 $377,869 $250,597 $179,610
Annual rate of inflation varies 3% 3% 3%
% of W&M Libraries collection budget 6% 11% 7.5% 5%
Expected cost of the package in 2025 with 3.5% inflation $232,549 $418,950 $277,841 $199,136
Total # of full-text downloads by W&M users last year 23,816 77,551 73,676 48,530
Average cost-per-download $8.80 $4.87 $3.40 $3.70
% of journals in the package which had 0 downloads this year 0% 15% 7% 25%
Other resources from this publisher we subscribe to in addition to journals
  • ScienceDirect Ebooks ($2,297)
  • Digital Commons ($39,998)
  • Scopus ($62,745)  
  • SciVal ($56,923)
  • Reaxys ($19,448)
  • Individual Books & Ebooks ($2,437)
  • Springer Ebook Package ($39,691)
  • Springer Biomedical Ebooks 2023 collection ($16,010)
  • Springer Computer Science Ebooks 2023 Collection ($20,869)
  • Individual Books & Ebooks ($9,321)
  • Anthrosource ($2,447)
  • Individual Books & Ebooks ($2,174)
  • CQ Press Voting & Elections ($7,452)
  • Data Planet ($9,248)
  • Individual Books & Ebooks ($2,415)

Key W&M Journal Packages | 2019

Publisher

Elsevier

Springer

Wiley

SAGE

Package Name ScienceDirect SpringerLink Wiley Online Library SAGE Premier
Total Journals Available 2,277 2,168 2,663 1,093
W&M cost for journal subscriptions this year $470,134 $306,854 $235,071 $163,035
Annual rate of inflation 5% 3% 3% 9%
% of W&M Libraries collection budget 12% 8% 6% 4%
Expected cost of the package in 2025 with 3.5% inflation $554,559 $366,215 $277,367 $183,609
Total # of full-text downloads by W&M users last year 152,285 45,747 68,973 44,323
Average cost-per-download $3.09 $6.71 $3.41 $3.68
% of journals in the package which had 0 downloads this year 19% 12% 42% 18%
Other resources from this publisher we subscribe to in addition to journals
  • Books ($5,208)
  • Ebooks ($16,504)
  • Reaxys ($18,155)
  • Digital Commons ($38,459)
  • Books ($6,964)
  • Ebooks ($28,587)
  • Nature Publishing jrls ($75,202)
  • Books ($2,848)
  • AnthroSource ($2,357)
  • Books ($2,548)
  • Ebooks ($0)
  • CQ Voting ($6,958)
  • SAGE Stats ($3,016)
  • Data Planet ($5,990)

Key W&M Journal Packages | 2018

Publisher

Elsevier

Springer

Wiley

SAGE

Package Name ScienceDirect SpringerLink Wiley Online Library SAGE Premier
Total Journals Available 2,284 2,244 1,463 1,093
W&M cost for journal subscriptions this year $451,134 $297,916 $225,638 $149,366
Annual rate of inflation 3-4% 3% 3% 4%
% of W&M Libraries collection budget 12% 8% 6% 4%
Expected cost of the package in 2025 with 3.5% inflation $554,559 $366,215 $277,367 $183,609
Total # of full-text downloads by W&M users last year 156,100 40,918 65,597 30,084
Average cost-per-download $2.89 $6.03 $3.44 $4.96
% of journals in the package which had 0 downloads this year 21% 0% 11% 8%
Other resources from this publisher we subscribe to in addition to journals
  • Books ($11,800)
  • Ebooks ($15,700)
  • Reaxys ($17,500)
  • Digital Commons ($37,700)
  • Books ($18,700)
  • Ebooks ($27,700)
  • Nature Publishing jrls ($30,200)
  • eMagRes ($1,800)
  • AnthroSource ($2,200)
  • Books ($3,100)
  • Ebooks ($7,500)
  • CQ Voting ($6,300)
  • SAGE Stats ($3,000)
  • Data Planet ($5,600)