article on merger effects on pricing (fwd)

[Joe Kraus <jokraus@du.edu>]

Forwarded from Molly White of PAMnet... concerning articles in the most
recent ARL newsletter.

http://www.arl.org/newsltr/207/ 
Table of Contents

http://www.arl.org/newsltr/207/jrnlprices.html 
The Impact of Publisher Mergers on Journal Prices: An Update by Mark J.
McCabe, Assistant Professor of Economics, Georgia Institute of
Technology

http://www.arl.org/newsltr/207/pubprofits.html
Update on Scholarly Publisher Profits by Kaylyn Hipps, Assistant Editor
of ARL 


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1999 10:48:23 -0600
From: Molly White <mwhite@MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU>
To: SLAPAM-L@lists.yale.edu
Subject: article on merger effects on pricing

______________________________________________________________________
URL:  http://www.arl.org/newsltr/207/jrnlprices.html
	appears in the current _ARL Report_.


THE IMPACT OF PUBLISHER MERGERS ON JOURNAL PRICES:  AN UPDATE (i)

by Mark J. McCabe, Assistant Professor of Economics, Georgia Institute of
Technology

"Near the end of 1997, Reed Elsevier and Wolters Kluwer proposed a merger
of their operations that upset more than a few librarians.  Elsevier's
publishing "empire" was about to grow even larger.  The fear of runaway
academic journal prices was palpable in places where the mere mention of
the company's name causes people to grab for their wallets.

More than a year and a half later, much has changed in the academic
publishing markets.  Although the proposed Elsevier/Kluwer deal failed
after facing regulatory scrutiny, consolidation continues at a rapid pace.
A half dozen major transactions involving science, technical, medical
(STM), or legal publishers have occurred over the past 18 months.  At the
same time, new web-based technologies are transforming the production and
delivery of scholarly research articles.  These events have provided me
with a unique opportunity to assess the economic behavior of academic
publishers and libraries, first at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and
now as an Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech.  Last fall I reported some
preliminary results from this effort in _ARL_.(ii)  My intention here is to
briefly revisit that article and then describe my subsequent progress."....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Molly T. White                         '   512-495-4616
Physics Mathematics Astronomy Library  '   Fax: 512-495-4611
Univ. of Texas at Austin               '   mwhite@mail.utexas.edu