Re: Calculating the Cost per Article in the Current Subscription Model

["Sally Morris \(ALPSP\)" <chief-exec@alpsp.org>]

I have addressed the same question in my forthcoming article 'The True
Costs of Scholarly Journal Publishing' which will appear in Learned
Publishing in April.

To calculate the library costs (across the system) per article I have
taken the average acquisition and non-acquisition cost per journal (taken
from ARL's 2003 figures) and divided by the average number of articles per
journal (from King), then multiplied by the average distribution (again
from King).  I recognise, however, that King's figures are not recent;  I
would suspect that articles per journal have risen, and that distribution
has fallen - if anyone has more recent figures, I would love to see them

The figures I come up with are - acquistion, USD 2850;  non-acquisition
USD 4275.

Sally Morris, Chief Executive
Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers
E-mail:  chief-exec@alpsp.org

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Philip Meir Davis" <pmd8@cornell.edu>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2005 1:16 AM
Subject: Calculating the Cost per Article in the Current Subscription Model


> Of potential interest to the readers of Liblicense. --Phil Davis
>
> Title:  Calculating the Cost per Article in the Current Subscription Model
>
> Authors:  Davis, Philip; Cornell University Library Task Force on Open
> Access Publishing
>
> Issue Date:  22-Dec-2004
> Available: http://dspace.library.cornell.edu/handle/1813/236
>
> Abstract:  This spreadsheet calculates the cost per article published in
> the current subscription model for 113 institutions designated under the
> Association of Research Libraries. It graphs these institutions by FTE
> (full time equivalent enrollment) and compares the results to a range of
> costs postulated in the producer-pays open access model. This spreadsheet
> uses publicly-available information and the author regrets any errors
> within. It was designed to promote dialog and additional analysis -- not
> to advocate a particular position. Modifying the starting assumptions will
> recalculate the values in the spreadsheet and update the graph. Readers
> are encouraged to change the assumptions based on more accurate
> information or alternative scenarios.
>
> This spreadsheet is an addendum to the Report of the CUL Task Force on
> Open Access Publishing presented to the Cornell University Library
> Management Team August 9, 2004.
>
> Questions and clarification can be sent to the author, Philip Davis at:
> pmd8@cornell.edu