Quality and value of Oxford Journals collection confirmed

["STRINGER, Kate" <kate.stringer@oxfordjournals.org>]

***Apologies for cross-posting***

Quality and value of Oxford Journals collection confirmed

An updated study examining trends in journals pricing from
2000-2006 has been released today by LISU, based at Loughborough
University. The findings show Oxford Journals, a division of
Oxford University Press, continues to offer significant quality
and value to its customers, with the lowest price increases of
eleven leading publishers over the six year period.

The report, commissioned by Oxford Journals, updates findings
from a previous study conducted in 20041, and offers valuable
insights into journal subscription prices, looking at overall
price, as well as price per page, and price per point of impact
factor.

While all publishers made price increases over the period
2000-2006, Oxford Journals had the lowest overall price increase
(42%), and also demonstrated the lowest price per page, and the
lowest price per point of impact factor for its biomedical
titles, strengthening the organization's objectives of providing
access to the highest quality content at a fair price.

"The first LISU pricing report in 2004 generated considerable
interest within the library and scholarly publishing community,
so it was important for us to continue to monitor these trends,
and to share these with the wider community" commented Martin
Richardson, Managing Director, Oxford Journals. He continued:

"LISU have provided an objective overview of journals pricing,
looking at metrics that journals publishers may use to indicate
the value of their journals, such as price per page, and price
per impact factor. The results show that our content provides
excellent value - over 57% of our biomedical collection are in
the top 50 of their ISI ranking categories, and yet our journals
have the lowest price increase within this subject area."

The research updates the previous findings on pricing for
biomedical journals, and has also been extended to analyze
pricing for social science titles. Findings within the report
show little variation to the original data published in 2004:
there are continued trends in price variance across publishers,
including median price increases ranging from 42% to 104% for
biomedical titles, and 47% to 120% for social science titles.
Median journal prices also continue to vary widely between
publishers for both these disciplines, ranging from L198 to L859
in biomedical titles, and L119 to L513 in the Social Sciences.

Claire Creaser, Director of LISU and one of the report's authors,
commented "Serials pricing remains a key concern of librarians in
all sectors. It is an area which is becoming more complex, with
publishers seeking to adapt to the growing demands of authors and
readers in relation to access and quality of research outputs.
This report gives a valuable insight into a small part of the
current debate, focussing on just two broad subjects and eleven
major scholarly journal publishers. There remain many areas still
to be investigated, and many factors which may affect journal
pricing which are not covered here. LISU was pleased to be
invited to carry out this work, and hopes to be able to take it
further in the future."

END

For more information please contact:
Claire Creaser
Director, LISU, Loughborough University, Loughborough Leics. LE11 3TU.
Tel: 01509 635682
Email: c.creaser@lboro.ac.uk

Or Kirsty Luff
Library Marketing Manager, Oxford Journals
Tel: 01865 35 4206
Email: kirsty.luff@oxfordjournals.org
Kirsty will be attending the UKSG conference Monday 16 - Wednesday 18 April=
 and will be available for comment

Notes for Editors

Trends in Scholarly Journal Prices 2000-2006 (Sonya White &
Claire Creaser, LISU, 2007) is freely available from the LISU
website as a downloadable pdf.
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/dis/lisu/pages/publications/oup2.html.

Print copies can be purchased for =A350 [post paid in the UK] from:
LISU, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leics, LE11 3TU
Tel: 01509 635680
Fax: 01509 635699
Email: lisu@lboro.ac.uk
and through TeleOrdering.

Further information on the report:

* Over 8,000 journals were included in the analysis.
* Publishers included in the analysis were:
o Blackwell Publishing
o Cambridge University Press
o Elsevier
o Lippincott Williams and Wilkins
o Nature (specialist journals)
o Oxford Journals
o Springer
o Sage
o Taylor and Francis
o University of Chicago Press
o Wiley

Key Findings

* Median journal prices ranged from L198 to L859 for biomedical
titles, and L119 to L513 for social science titles in 2006

* Increases in the median journal price between 2000 and 2006
varied from 42% to 104% in biomedical titles and 47% to 120% for
social science titles.

* Median price per page ranged from 31p to L1.06 for biomedical
titles, and 13p to 93p for social science titles in 2006

* Median price per point of impact factor ranged from L110 to
L775 for biomedical titles in 2006, and from L186 to L552 for
social science titles.

About LISU

LISU [http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/dis/lisu] is a national
research, consultancy and information centre based at the
Department of Information Science at Loughborough University.
LISU focuses on the analysis, development, interpretation and
dissemination of statistics, performance assessment measures and
related management data. It seeks to contribute, in appropriate
ways, to good management practice in the various public and
private sector agencies that make up the strands of the
information economy and cultural services. It has an established
reputation as an independent authority in its field. Read more
about LISU at
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/dis/lisu/pages/about.html

About Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press (OUP) [http://www.oup.co.uk/], a
department of the University of Oxford, is the world's largest
and most international university press. Founded in 1478, it
currently publishes more than 4,500 new books a year, has a
presence in over fifty countries, and employs some 3,700 people
worldwide. It has become familiar to millions through a diverse
publishing programme that includes scholarly works in all
academic disciplines, bibles, music, school and college
textbooks, children's books, materials for teaching English as a
foreign language, business books, dictionaries and reference
books, and journals. Read more about OUP at
http://www.oup.com/about/

Oxford Journals [http://www.oxfordjournals.org/], a Division of
OUP, publishes nearly 200 journals covering a broad range of
subject areas, two-thirds of which are published in collaboration
with learned societies and other international organizations. The
collection contains some of the world's most prestigious titles,
including Nucleic Acids Research, JNCI (Journal of the National
Cancer Institute), Brain, Human Reproduction, English Historical
Review, and the Review of Financial Studies. Read more about
Oxford Journals at http://www.oxfordjournals.org/about_us.html

Celebrating 100 years of Journals publishing 1906-2007

Visit the Oxford Journals centenary collection online at
http://www.oxfordjournals.org/news/centenary

Kate Stringer | Marketing & Communications Assistant
Oxford Journals | Oxford University Press
Great Clarendon Street | Oxford | OX2 6DP
kate.stringer@oxfordjournals.org