One of the most important developments in the recent history of journal publishing must be the replacement of print by electronic as the predominant medium for access to scientific literature. Since the launch of Science Direct in 1997, electronic usage from this platform has grown to half a billion downloads per year and electronic revenue in the academic and government markets alone, has grown to approximately 90% of Elsevier’s total journal revenue. Journal pricing structures, however, have not kept pace with this speed of change.

In general, prices for electronic access are still derived and closely linked to print prices. Although the print-based pricing structures were useful to maintain during the migration from print to electronic access, it is becoming increasingly evident that these structures should be reviewed to make sure they are in line with the shift to an electronic environment. Print-based pricing is no longer the best indicator of the effective price or value of a journal in an electronic world. For example, academic and government institutions purchase ScienceDirect based on the specific parameters of their content and customer constituency needs, achieving savings ranging from 10%–75% less than the same collection at institutional print catalog prices.
A key objective in our efforts to continue to evolve our licensing and pricing models is to decouple electronic from print pricing and establish electronic journal prices that are completely separate from print prices. With print-based pricing, options are limited for differentiation as list prices are identical for all customers. Electronic access, however, provides opportunities to differentiate licensing and pricing options and to develop pricing structures that match the specific needs of different types of customers. There are different ways to realize differentiated electronic pricing and Elsevier is working closely with customers to better understand how best to decouple print and electronic pricing. Right now we are looking at how we can create more objective criteria for setting prices and establishing a system of differentiated pricing through customer tiering.

Price setting

For the past two years Elsevier has added objective and transparent factors in its annual process to set print list prices. Amongst the factors included are things like quality, usage, differences in the number of articles made available, and even new factors such as Sponsored Articles. The overall intent is to rebalance the titles across our portfolio over a prolonged period of time. It is our belief that these changes, which are planned over a period of several years, will help preserve and better reflect the value the information has to the research community. The same factors might support the establishment and evolution over time of electronic prices.

Where print and electronic prices could be similar in the beginning, electronic and print prices will evolve separately from each other over time. It will be important to have a clear framework that provides a more objective and transparent direction to individual journal prices.

Tiered electronic pricing

With a new electronic pricing structure, the possibilities to offer differentiated pricing through customer tiers greatly increase, reflecting the different needs of customers as they use and access scientific journals. Tiered pricing is not a new concept for Elsevier. Some of our products are already offered through tiered electronic pricing (e.g., Cell, and the recently introduced SciVal Spotlight solution). A next step we are considering is to apply tiered pricing on a broader scale. Criteria that would help determine customer tiering include:

• Research type (e.g., Carnegie Classification in the US) – taking into account the focus on primary research within an institution (i.e., all things being equal a teaching institution would pay less than a dedicated research institution for access to the same journal).
• Size – taking into account how many (potential) users have access (i.e., all things being equal an institution with 1,500 staff and students would pay less then an institution with 25,000 staff and students for access to the same journal).
• Geography – taking into account relative purchasing power (i.e., an institution in an emerging market like Indonesia would be charged less then an institution in a mature market like the United Kingdom for access to the same journal).

Elsevier is strongly committed to continuously evolve its pricing structures in line with customer needs. Our goals are to simplify our pricing structure, increase flexibility and offer our customers more choice. We see this as a journey that may take some time, with continued and gradual offerings of new licensing options that have been developed and tested in close cooperation with our customers. Listening to, engaging with our customers, and responding to their feedback forms a central component of this journey.

Also see:

Supporting Libraries In a Challenging Economy

How We Price Journals Today

Value of Research Information

Subscription Price List Home