And the Beat Goes On: Serials Crisis Redux

Library Journal has published its annual review of serials prices. This year, its title is "Serial Wars."

There is considerable discussion of open access issues in the article, and Peter Suber has commented: "This is an excellent picture of where OA stands today. If you have colleagues who want to know what’s been happening and only have time for one article, give them this URL."

As usual, the big bucks in serials are for STM journals (see the table below from the article), and, no surprise, the country with the highest average price per title is the Netherlands.

TABLE 1 AVERAGE 2007 PRICE FOR SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES
Discipline Average Price Per Title
Chemistry $3,429
Physics 2,865
Engineering 2,071
Biology 1,676
Technology 1,502
Astronomy 1,426
Geology 1,424
Food Science 1,345
Math & Computer Science $1,313
Zoology 1,308
Health Sciences 1,199
Botany 1,179
General Science 1,139
Geography 1,050
Agriculture 898

What about next year?: "Expect overall price increases to be in the seven percent to nine percent range for 2008 subscriptions."