From: Brandon Nordin <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2012 20:36:03 +0000
ACS, SUNY Potsdam, and Pricing: The Publisherıs Perspective
ACS Publications would like to take this opportunity to add important
facts and background to the discussion about the decision by SUNY Potsdam
with regard to its ACS journal subscriptions. More importantly, we seek
to clarify information that has been shared on this listserv and elsewhere
that is being used as the framework for a broad discussion of ACS and its
pricing policies, practices, and intentions.
First, we appreciate the important correction SUNY Potsdam librarian
Jenica Rogers posted earlier this week regarding her institutionıs
subscription price increases over the past 7 years. ACS Publications does
not include a confidentiality clause in our license agreements, and given
that SUNY Potsdam has encouraged open discussion of how their own pricing
concerns should be considered in a broader context, we have opted to share
the information below.
Beginning in 2009, for a small increase to the subscription fees it had
paid for 8 ACS journals, SUNY Potsdam immediately received expanded access
to the entire portfolio of 34 ACS peer-reviewed journals, with all
published content from 1996-present. This access was provided under terms
agreed between ACS Publications and New York State under the New York
State Higher Education Initiative (NYSHEI). As part of a multiyear
commitment by NYSHEI, the ACS agreed to cap base price increases at 5.75%
per annum.
As a consequence of this program, as of 2012, SUNY Potsdam now benefits
from access to all 40 ACS peer reviewed journals online, the ACS Legacy
Archive, and the Journal of Chemical Education, which ACS Publications
publishes on behalf of the Societyıs Division of Chemical Education.
Annual price increases to SUNY Potsdam under this arrangement have
averaged 7%, including the cost of new journals launched after 2008. Thus,
while the price SUNY Potsdam pays in 2012 for this access to nearly 1
million articles is roughly double what the school paid more than a decade
ago, they now receive nearly 4 times the number of journals.
Earlier this year, at the request of SUNY system schools, ACS Publications
undertook discussion with all SUNY campuses about licensing access
directly, outside the NYSHEI agreement. In the course of these discussions
and in an effort to ensure transparency across all SUNY schools, ACS
Publications shared web usage and COUNTER-compliant cost per download data
for all SUNY campuses and proposed a realignment of fees on the basis of
the Carnegie tiers and web usage subtiers that ACS uses to determine
institutional prices. While the cost per SUNY site differs on the basis of
such tiered pricing, the cost per use for ACS content across all SUNY
schools averaged less than $3.00 per article downloaded in 2011, which
served as a reference point for our discussions.
Mindful of ongoing concerns regarding library budgets, ACS also offered
SUNY schools an alternative subscription package, the ACS Academic Core+
option. ACS launched the ACS Academic Core+ option in 2010 specifically to
address the needs of less-research-intensive schools, and to enable
choices for customers who might need to downsize from the universal ACS
All Publications access model as they manage within the constraints of
their budgets during difficult economic times. The ACS Academic Core+
option provides access to 15 ACS peer reviewed journals that are essential
to the educational needs of most academic institutions, plus the Journal
of Chemical Education. (The ³+² in the option reflects the fact that an
allotment of digital access tokens are included in this package to enable
users to access ACS article content that is otherwise not part of the
selected subscriptions. Subscriptions to additional ACS journals also may
be selected as the institution so chooses.)
We think it important to offer flexible choices as part of a range of
licensing options that we provide to our academic customers. It is why we
are open to hearing more from the library community about how to best to
ensure sustainable access to the very best research being published in ACS
journals by authors drawn from around the world. We are grateful that the
majority of SUNY schools have elected to renew with ACS for calendar 2013
by taking advantage of the various options we extended to them.
We understand the challenge SUNY Potsdam and many other institutions face
with respect to serials budgets. Yet as we work to standardize our
pricing based on metrics that are relevant in the digital era, we feel it
is important to ensure that customers with like characteristics pay like
fees for electronic access to the same content.
ACS Value Based Pricing model uses a combination of Carnegie Graduate
profile and usage history to group similar customers; this helps us to
make distinctions between baccalaureate colleges and
more-research-intensive or science-focused institutions within the same
Carnegie tier. This approach developed with wide consultation with the
library community in 2006-8 - is well supported by our customers as well
as our guiding principles of fairness and parity. Of course, individual
library acquisitions budgets can of course vary widely. We understand
that striving for pricing parity means that for some schools, our fees
will consume a larger portion of their acquisitions budgets, and the
schools may need to make difficult decisions as they manage their resource
purchasing. However, our goal is to create subscription options that offer
every institution some mode of cost effective access to ACS content.
To be certain, there are important questions that will benefit from
additional clarification, and that will reflect the complexities of our
shared enterprise as we evolve together libraries, publishers, faculty,
students, researchers to chart the future of scientific scholarly
communication. For example:
+ Is it most appropriate that similar universities be asked to pay the
same fees for access to the same content, or should fees for access be
tailored to an individual libraryıs ability to pay, or propensity to
negotiate?
+ Should special considerations apply to baccalaureate schools vs.
research-intensive universities that grant graduate degrees? Or is such a
distinction unwarranted?
+ What are the appropriate metrics for librarians to assess the value a
given publisher delivers to their patrons, so as to support their
collection management decisions?
+ With users at colleges and universities of many types now accustomed to
broad and universal access, what trade-offs are realistic to meet budget
challenges while serving a community that is currently increasing its
emphasis on research and publication?
+ When consortia agreements or their participants are changed, how can
publishers help to avoid disruption to individual academic customers?
ACS Publications is fully engaged with these questions, and we welcome
robust discussion with librarians and other of our stakeholders as we seek
answers and shared understanding.
Respectfully,
Brandon A. Nordin
Vice President
Sales, Marketing and Digital Strategy
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