Comparing the Prices of Commercial and Nonprofit Journals: A Realistic Assessment

Using data for 2,717 journals and more than 9,000 acquisition opportunities, this study shows how journal prices vary by level of aggregation (single-journal subscription or full-text database), resource provider type (scholarly society, university press, other nonprofit organization, commercial publisher, or library vendor), and broad subject field. The journals acquired through commercial publishers' databases cost less than half as much as those acquired through the databases of scholarly societies, university presses, and library vendors. Across all provider types, full-text databases are more cost-effective than single-journal subscriptions. These results are more realistic than those reported in earlier investigations, since (1) unlike previous studies, this one accounts for the prices of both single-journal subscriptions and full-text journal databases; (2) this assessment is based on actual prices, including consortial and negotiated prices, rather than list prices; and (3) this investigation focuses on the journals identified by faculty as important titles for their teaching and research.