RE: American Academy of Pediatrics 2004 Pricing

["Michael Clarke" <MClarke@aap.org>]

Dear David,

In response to your thoughtful points:

1. Our top tier does not have a fixed price because organizations in this
tier can vary so widely. Pharma companies increasingly are asking for
"global" licenses for all their offices around the world. But the size of
these companies and the number of labs/offices can vary widely. Also,
library consortia, of course, are not all cut from the same cloth.
Therefore we need to take these on a case-by-case basis.

In regard to your specific example of a tier 3 university that also has a
tier 3 medical school: this would boil down to whether or not the
university and the medical school are listed separately in the Directory
of Higher Education.  If they are the same organization, they can purchase
a single tier 3 subscription. If they are separate organizations, they
each will need to purchase a tier 3 subscription.  If only the medical
school wants a print copy, the university can purchase an online-only
subscription and the medical school a print & online subscription. If they
are considered the same institution, and only the medical school wants a
print copy, the single print copy that comes with a standard subscription
can go to the medical school. If the organization is not listed at all in
the Directory, then we would look at whether or not the university and
medical school report to the same president/chief academic officer. If
they report to separate presidents/CAOs, they are considered separate
organizations.

2. The prices of our tiers will most likely become more distinct over
time. As we were switching to a new model we did not want to make drastic
changes in pricing for any subscribers. We attempted that last year and
caused much dissatifcation.

3. Thanks! We hope other organizations will find this a reasonable model
as well.

Michael T. Clarke
Senior Managing Editor
Division of Medical Journals and Professional Periodicals
American Academy of Pediatrics
141 Northwest Point Blvd.
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007-1098
tel: 847/434-7895
fax: 847/434-8000
e-mail: mclarke@aap.org
_______

>>> David.Goodman@liu.edu 08/21/03 07:44PM >>>
Note some interesting features:

1. Your top category has no fixed price -- since it includes national
licenses, I suppose that's not unreasonable, but how you implement it will
obviously make a difference.  For example, though it does not apply to
either of my institutions, what is the price for a doctoral granting
university (tier 3) that also has a medical school (tier 3) and wants only
1 print copy?

2. Your curve is very shallow--the difference between tier 1 and tier 4 is
only 13 to 14 percent, both for online only and also for online plus one
print. This is very different from most such curves I have seen.

3. The concept of charging a 30% add-on for each extra print copy seems
like a splendid one for accomodating different institutions realistically.

May some other journals in your subject follow your example--I do not
think I need name them here.
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