Rising Journal Costs

Yearly price increases in journal subscriptions, frequently exceeding the rate of inflation, have created budgetary issues for academic libraries -- resulting in fewer journal subscriptions both online and in print. Journal increases are often 30% or more per year, and library budgets often cannot meet these increases, so libraries must cancel existing journal subscriptions and make deep cuts in purchases of books and other resources.

What Can Faculty Do?

• Talk with your subject specialist to learn more about journal prices in your field
• Conduct research and publish in journals that are moderately priced but still highly respected
• Retain your copyrights at time of publication to cut down on publishers' royalty revenues
• Advocate for change among your colleagues

Links

• Sticker Shock
• Journal Prices and Library Budgets (ARL)
• Monograph and Serial Expenditures in ARL Libraries, 1986-2004 (PDF)