Elsevier's 2007 Journal Prices

["Menefee, Daviess (ELS)" <D.Menefee@elsevier.com>]

The following letter regarding Elsevier's journal prices for next 
year has now been sent to Elsevier customers. Please feel free to 
contact your Account Manager with any questions.

Kind regards,
Daviess Menefee
Library Relations

_______________________

6 July 2006

Dear Librarian:

Over the course of the year I, along with many Elsevier staff, 
speak with our customers about a range of issues facing scholarly 
communications in general, and individual institutions as well. 
It is our aim to take these discussions and convert them into 
actions to serve you better. I know from my conversations that 
pricing remains one of the key issues for librarians and 
publishers, along with good communication, customer service, and 
archiving. I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you about 
the initiatives we have put in place to address your concerns.

First, let's start with pricing.  The average price increase for 
Elsevier journals in 2007 will be 5.5% averaged across our 
journals. We understand that libraries face significant budget 
challenges and for the last six years our price increases have 
been well below the industry average. As a point of reference, 
the average increase in 2006 across all STM publishers was 8.1% 
in Europe, and 9.82% in the US.* The 5.5% figure is, of course, 
an average across our titles, so please bear in mind that the 
cost for your institution's print collection will depend on your 
particular mix of titles and that electronic subscription fee 
changes, if any, will depend on the terms of your ScienceDirect 
contract. Also note that Elsevier is discontinuing package 
pricing for a few titles previously available only within 
predefined bundles, making all of our print journals available 
individually in 2007.

In the area of communication, you asked for more clarity on 
product and contact information.  We've now posted a complete 
list of new or changed titles , which is updated regularly on 
info.sciencedirect.com, along with email/RSS alerts, ensuring 
notification prior to new/changed titles being loaded on 
ScienceDirect.  As in the past, our new 2007 print price list 
will be posted on Elsevier.com in August, with pricing tables now 
also available for several additional content options such as 
backfiles and books.  And to help you find the right person to 
contact, we've launched a convenient online directory at 
http://contacts.elsevier.com/. We'd appreciate any feedback you 
have.

Last year, I told you that Elsevier was focusing on putting 
customer service at the heart of everything we do.  We want to 
measure how we're doing, so since January 2005 we have surveyed 
over 8,400 customers worldwide.  While there is still room to do 
better, I'm pleased that your feedback indicates that our 
customer service is improving. Eighteen months into the program, 
satisfaction ratings have increased in six categories and 
customers now rank Elsevier higher than our competitors in seven 
out of ten service categories, including sales representatives, 
account development, and sales support. Be assured that we will 
continue to improve in these areas, as well as in the critical 
areas of collections, invoicing, and contracts.  I would like to 
express my thanks for the direction you have given to us.

Customers have also provided invaluable input into our product 
development, in particular for the redesign of ScienceDirect, 
which will be launched in August 2006.  The redesign features 
user interface enhancements, streamlined browsing and searching, 
and additional personalization features that will reduce the time 
to do common tasks by up to 80%.  We hope you will find the new 
ScienceDirect to be further evidence of our commitment to 
developing electronic tools that improve the productivity of 
those we serve.  Further information will be forthcoming through 
direct communications like this one, as well as our product 
newsletters and Library Connect.

The worldwide library community continues to focus attention on 
digital archiving. In addition to Elsevier's internal archives 
and our official archive with Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB), the 
National Library of the Netherlands, we have signed a second 
agreement in late 2005 with the U.S.-based non-profit 
organization Portico.  As of January this year, we are also 
participating as a sponsor of the two-year beta test of CLOCKSS, 
a library-based distributed archiving system.

These are just a sample of the many initiatives implemented in 
response to your feedback.  On behalf of Elsevier, thank you for 
the time you have dedicated to helping us improve.  In my 
discussions with you, it is evident that we share a common vision 
of advancing scholarly communications and I believe that we will 
achieve even more working together.  I encourage you to stay in 
close contact with your account manager and share your feedback, 
ideas, and opinions.

Sincerely,



Frank Vrancken Peeters
Global Sales Director, Elsevier


The average increase was 8.1% across all STM publishers in Europe, and 9.82%
in the US.  This places Elsevier's 5.5% price increase in 2006 within the
lowest quartile of publishers' average price increases  when institutional
journal price data, taken from official publisher price lists, is compared
for 2005 and 2006.