Transcript Document
Pricing Models for E-journals in a Consortia
Environment
I.R.N. Goudar * and S.L. Sangam**
*Head, ICAST
National Aerospace Laboratories
Bangalore – 560 017
[email protected]
**Chairman, Department of L & IS
Karnataka University
Dharwad-580003
[email protected]
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Challenges for LICs
Increasing demands of users for information requirements
Information explosion and the expansion of electronic resources
Proliferation of new and important journals
Dwindling budget and decreasing staff
Developments in computers and communication networks
Commercial publishers controlling journals publishing with lion share
Merging/Acquisition of publishers
Licensing problems of e-resources
Archiving problems of e-resources
- Non-availability
- Reluctance of publishers to make available back volumes for local
archiving
- Hardware and software for archiving
- Retrieval software, publishers not supplying
Lack of IT skills of LIC staff
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Features of an Ideal E-Journal
Full text
Back issues- Pre-web +
PDF files
HTML files
Advanced search features
References linked to full
text and related articles
Additional colour possible
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Expanded papersaccess to raw data
Graphics, video and
sound, if required
Comprehensive help
Alerting
Usage statistics for
librarians
Refereed, but quick
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Expectations of Customers
Readers
Authors
Enhanced content
critical mass
multimedia, more colour,
additional data
Enhanced functionality
powerful search, alerting
Seamless access
ubiquitous access to past
and present
Powerful links
abstracts to full text
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Quality imprint
journal brand
improved visibility
Better author service
responsiveness
faster publication times
web-submissions, web
peer review
No Page charges
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E-Journal Models
E- journal continues to coexist with its print version.
E-journal replaces its print version.
E-journal gets value addition, but continues to coexist
with print.
Print version plus abridged e-version
Born digital and remains digital only.
E-journal with a facility to supply individual articles.
Delayed e-version than its print equivalent.
E-version first and then print.
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E-Journals: Major Players
Primary publishers
Aggregators
Subscription agents
Document delivery agencies
E-print systems
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Journals Publishing Costs: Print Version
First copy costs more - Marginal costs for rest
Article
processing costs very high
Refereeing costs
High marketing and admin costs
Physical distribution costs
Commission
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to agents
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Journals Publishing Costs: E-Version
Existing Print Costs + New costs:
Content delivery infrastructure
Software, hardware & ISP
Customer support
Access control
New human resource: Production, IT
Marketing costs
New content costs: tables, maths & chemistry symbols
Meta-data costs
Low distribution costs
Service costs
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Experiences/Challenges of Publishers
Some publishers’ systems not ready for e-only
Parallel publishing environment
Test bed for electronic pricing & consortia policies
Protection of current revenue
Closer to the market (community feedback)
Guarantee of new subscriptions?
VAT
Consistency with consortia overseas
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Consortia
Consortia is a Strategic Alliance of
Consortia is a Strategic Alliance of
Institutions that have Common Interests.
Institutions that have Common Interests.
Consortia have become the latest strategic front in the electronic
revolution and are helping libraries to leverage their bargaining
power, and publishers are vying for the market potential that
networked consortia represent.
So….There is a need for striking the balance between cooperation
and competition both among libraries and among publishers. Both
publishers and libraries should look for affordable and sustainable
economic models based on values.
This is where Consortia can play a major play.
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…Continued
Consortia Goals …….
Improved infrastructure
Enhanced image of the library - Visibility for smaller libraries
Improve existing library services -Boosting professional image
Harness developments in IT - Facilitate building digital libraries
Cost sharing for technical and training support - Access from
desktops of users
Increase user base
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……. Consortia Goals
Increase the access base - More e-Journals
Rational utilization of funds - A little more pays a lot
Ensure the continuous subscription
Qualitative resource sharing - Effective DDS
Avoid price + models - Pay for up-front products not for R&D
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Library Consortia: Expectations & Experiences
Flexibility for cancellations and multi-year deals
Quick and Simplified Negotiations
Single offers cannot meet all needs
Pricing options desirable
Extended electronic access desirable
Unresolved terms and conditions
Publishers are experimenting with pricing
Clarity on VAT
Continue…
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…Continued
Library Consortia: Expectations & Experiences
Regional, State, National consortia can be influential
Option for unbundling electronic from print
Mixed views for access to all titles of publishers
Price alone is not the only factor
Standardised licensing
Clear archiving policy
Price including back files
Capped annual inflation
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Consortia Values
Libraries Vs Publishers
Libraries
Usefulness
Members driven
Lower price
Full text access
Expert vs. Student
Accessing Internet resources
Combined purchasing power
Simplify purchase procedure
Distribute financial and other
risk
Publishers
Pricing/Education
Usage Reporting, Interface
options
Linking/Delivery
Indexing/Filtering
Gain credibility with libraries
Protection of current revenue
Single point payment
Increased marketing/ Uncertain
new subscription
Continue…
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Consortia Values
Libraries Vs Publishers
Libraries
Increase participation of
members
No storage & documentation
problem
Instant Access
Quality of services
Free flow of information
Sharing – ideas, information
Contribution – time, resources
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…Continued
Publishers
Reduced cost of production
Reduced surcharges like
mailing
Less extra efforts and
expenditure for new customers
Get consortium tool
o Gather library information
o Invoice libraries
o Products support
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Consortia Challenges
Access control and portals
New price models
Transition to e-only
Perpetual access
Archiving
Tight budgets
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Consortia Models
Participants Oriented Models
Geographical location linked
Ex: - Bangalore Special Libraries Group
Libraries in the same discipline
Ex: - Aerospace Libraries Group
Libraries belonging to the same parent organization
Ex: - CSIR LICs
Libraries of academic organizations
Ex: - INFLIBNET
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Consortia Price Influencing Factors
Quantum of business
Number of consortia members
Types of institutions
Contract period
Number of IP enabled nodes
Number of campuses
Value added services
Rights to archive
Perpetual access
Training facilities
Multi year agreement
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Charging /Pricing
Users are almost universally divorced from the direct
funders of libraries – universities, local authorities
Discontinuity – between library and publisher. Most
transactions are handled by intermediaries
Generally agents take a commission from the publisher
Discount to libraries comes out of the intermediary’s commission
The price is set by the publisher - unaffected by any discount
“Charge” is defined as the way the consumer is charged
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Charging Model
Familiar charging models in information publishing include oneoff lump sum payments for unlimited access, shorter and longer
periodic charges, units of content and units of time.
Elements in Charging Models
- the basic charging models(One-off, time based, client based)
- time of charges
- what is unitized
- rights at end of payment period
- mechanics of payment
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Unit-based Charges
Units can consist of content – e.g. Journal articles
Access
The number of people access
Consumption the information resources
Combination of above
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Business Models
The business model is really the totality of revenue streams for a product or service.
The content owner’s model
annual fee, sales of journals, discounts on bulk purchases
The mobile operator’s model
one-off connection charges, monthly subscriptio
time and volume access charges, advertising revenue
fees for add-on services, subsidies/discounts
Super-distribution services
A user pays for access
Then pass the content on to another user
The new user pays for it
A part of the commission to first user
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Pricing Models: Some Facts
No universally acceptable E-journals
Pricing and Licensing Models
Varies from publishers to publishers
Varies from same publishers to different
customers
Ongoing experimentation
Negotiation possible
Charge for content
Delivery format optional
Increasingly will be based on usage
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Pricing Models in Operation
Bundled – Free with print
AIP, APS, AMS, Elsevier, Wiley
Print as base + surcharge on electronic
Premium payments range from 10-25%
ACS, OSA
Electronic only
Small increase - ACS
Same price - OSA
Discount from print AIP, AMS
Totally unbundled – No discount for both
JBC (P=x, E=y, P+E=x+y)
Free e-version only
Charge for print if required
British Medical Journal
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Pricing Models in Operation
…Continued
Membership/Community Fee
Sponsorship/Advertising/Govt. Funding
Authors funded – Page charges
Usage based pricing
- Concurrent users
- Site population, Based on FTE
All
titles of publishers with print optional
Subject clusters
Virtual Journals: Narrow subject from
single/multiple collection
Pay–per–view: Credit cards, Deposit accounts
Free completely – Differently funded
Extra fee for software
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…Continued
Pricing Models in Operation
Separate Current (1-2 years) + Archive
Extra for value added services
Consortium discount
Number of sites
Consortium surcharge
Access to all consortia titles
All titles of publisher
Subscription to core titles – Rest pay-per-view
Slice and dice pricing
– Single article sales
– Deposit accounts
– Article bundles
– Current and archive subscriptions
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A Lot More for a Little Extra
Access to all titles of publishers for little surcharge
Multi year agreements with fixed annual price cap
Users happy – Wider access
Publishers happy – Guaranteed revenue, greater
visibility of titles
But what about non-major publishers?
Discount on multiple print copies
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Academic/Open Access Initiatives and Pricing
Academic self publishing
Journal of High Energy Physics - SISSA
e-prints (see arXiv.org)
Open Archives Initiative (OAI)
Library initiatives
HighWire Press - U Stanford Library
‘Digital’ Press
Ingenta, HighWire
Government-funded initiatives
PubMedCentral (NIH), SPARC (ARL)
Archival approaches
JSTOR
Creating online communities, portals
ChemWeb, optics.org, NanoTechWeb
Journal deconstruction
‘Virtual’ Journals
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E-prints Archives
Initially started as Physics E-Print Archive (www.arxiv.org)
- hosted by Los Alamos National Lab and recently moved to Cornell
University
- supported by academic, government funding
Free at point of use, very popular
>265,000 submissions since launch in August 1991
>3500 monthly submissions
Usage: 1 to 1.5 connections daily
Subjects Covered: Physics, Mathematics, Non-linear Science,
Computer Science and Quantitative Biology.
Continue…
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…Continued
E-prints Archives
CERN Document Server (http://cdsweb.cern.ch/)
Over 650,000 bibliographic records, including 320,000 full text
documents
Particle physics and related areas
Preprints, articles, books, journals, photographs
Mathematical Physics Preprint Archive mp_arc
(http://www.ma.utexas.edu/mp_arc/mp_arc-home.html)
mp_arc is an electronic archive from 1991-present
Mathematical Physics and related areas.
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Pricing Models: Issues
Underlying Prices should be publishers’ responsibility.
Pricing should be market-based not formulaic.
Senior scientists/ librarians may resist to the transition
from print to electronic.
Small publishers like professional societies not
enthusiastic about consortia pricing.
Publisher – Customer disconnect
Subscription/site vs. transactional choices
Perception: Electronic Costs less than Print
Reality: Electronic + Print costs more than Print
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Trends in Pricing Models
National licenses for major resources
Increasing in numbers offer electronic-only journals
Virtual Journals
Continued experimentation of models
More publishers to offer consortia pricing
More subject specific packages
Price decreasing
More will offer pay-per-view/transactional allowance
Print as ‘add on’: Optional at discounted price
Choice of format and added functionality
Pricing based on size (FTEs, research activity)
Ongoing access to core and occasional to peripheral material
The increasing archive will have a price on it
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Strong Links make Strong Consortia
Geographical
Coverage
Funding
Mission
Programs
Strategic
Consortia
Issues
Payment
Practical
Tactical
Staffing
Service
Technology
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Library
Types
Governance
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Pricing Constraints Specific to Indian Libraries
Entering consortia requires initial investments in licenses and
information and communication technology
Work procedures are still centered around the physical document
Inadequate funds
Single point payment
Rigid administrative, financial and auditing rules
Problems of defining asset against payment
Pay-Per-View not yet acceptable
Big brother attitude
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To Conclude…..
We need to develop:
More workable pricing models
Models that can be understood
Models affordable by libraries
Models sustainable by publishers
Identify pricing incentives
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