Determinants of Library Subscription Prices of Economic Journals

Abstract

Although an increase in the prices of academic journals across several decades has been a crucial issue for research institutions, few studies using individual journal prices have been carried out on the introduction of a bundling service called Big Deal. The present study empirically examines the determinants of the prices of 409 economic journals using the latest data. The results found that publishers set higher prices for more frequently cited journals, implying that the demand factor influences the price level in addition to cost factors. Furthermore, prices of journals published by large commercial publishers are higher than those published by professional associations and university presses. However, the prices differ among large commercial publishers, and further investigation is needed to conclude whether they set higher prices by exercising market power. On the other hand, an increase in the number of pages in individual journals caused by an increase in the number of submitted articles certainly leads to a corresponding rise in journal subscription prices. The healthy development of open access journals to ensure that everyone can read articles for free is needed to restrict an increase in the prices of traditional subscription journals.