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."
