Seeking the New Normal: Periodicals
Price Survey 2010
Publisher-Vendor-Library Relations
(PVLR) Interest Group
ALA Midwinter San Diego 2011
Seeking the New Normal: Periodicals
Price Survey 2010
Kittie S. Henderson
Director, Academic and Law Divisions
EBSCO Information Services
kittieh@ebsco.com
Stephen Bosch
Materials Budget, Procurement, and Licensing Librarian
University of Arizona Library
boschs@u.library.arizona.edu
What are price indices?
Overall Goal of price indices is to measure as
accurately as possible on a periodic basis the
extent of price changes on a similar set of items
(serials) in order to document market dynamics.
Standards
Much of the current work on serials pricing is
based on: ANSI/NISO Z39.20 - Criteria for Price
Indexes for Print Library Materials published in
1999.
http://www.niso.org/kst/reports/standards/
Serials Pricing Studies
Library Journal Serials Pricing Article
 ALA ALCTS Library Materials Price Index (LMPI)
Editorial Board in the Library and Book Trade
Almanac published by Information Today.
 Other studies such as the American Association
of Law Librarians Price Index for Legal
Publications.

Different approaches,
similar conclusions
The major differences in the price surveys
are in methodology.
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
Methodology: Library Journal



The data for the LJ article is drawn from sets of serial titles
contained in discreet packages including:
Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)
 Arts & Humanities Citation Index
 Science Citation Index
 Social Sciences Citation Index
EBSCO Publishing
 Academic Search Premier
 Magazine Article Summaries Ultra
Methodology: Library Journal
 Titles
included in the ISI products are
selected based upon impact factor, the
average number of citations to articles
published in science and social science
journals.
 Titles included in the EBSCO products are
based upon EBSCO editorial policy.
Methodology: Library Journal

Pricing is derived from the EBSCO Information
Services Title Database


approximately 6,400 items indexed by the ISI Indices.
approximately 3,200 titles in EBSCO ASP as well as
EBSCO MAS Ultra.
LJ Study includes titles published outside the
U.S.
 Titles may be included in both ISI and EBSCO
indices.

Nitty Gritty
More Nitty Gritty
Methodology:
U.S. Periodical Price Index


The LMPI data (the U.S. Periodical Price Index) is drawn
from a selected sample of approximately 3,800
predominately print periodical titles published in the U.S..
Titles must meet definition of periodical outlined in ANSI
Z39.20-1999: “A publication that comprises publications
in a continuous series under the same title, published
more than once a year over an indefinite period with
individual issues in the series numbered consecutively or
with each issue dated.”
Methodology:
U.S. Periodical Price Index



Titles are selected and maintained over to time in
order to provide a comprehensive sample “market
basket” to gauge changes in serials data.
Titles may fall off the LMPI list due to changes such
as cessation or move to a format which requires a
custom quote. Titles which closely match price,
subject, and audience replace the dropped title in
the index.
The methodology for the USPPI most closely
resembles that used in others indices like the
Consumer Price Index.
Methodology Similarities
 Both
studies rely on standard list pricing,
usually print.
 EBSCO provides pricing data for both
studies.
Still More Nitty Gritty …..
Different approaches, similar
conclusions
Each has a somewhat different approach but overall
both indicate that over the past few years periodical
price inflation has consistently hovered in the 6-9% per
annum range.
Seeking the New Normal:
As expected when different methods are used there are
slightly different outcomes:
 The LJ Periodical Price Survey showed for the ISI
data 7.6 % increase in 2008-09 and 4.4% increase in
2009-10.
 The EBSCO ASP data showed a 9.4% increase in
2008-09 and a 4.1% increase in 2009-10.
 The USPPI showed an overall increase of 7.1% 200809 and 6.4% in 2009-10.
Seeking the New Normal: Price
Projections from LJ Article
No. of Titles
% of List
2010 Cost
% of Cost
Projected % of
Increase
Projected 2011
Cost
% of Cost
Projected
Overall %
Increase
7.9
ARTS AND HUMANITIES CITATION INDEX
U.S.
431
35.9
$69,101
21.9
7.1
$73,938
21.6
NON-U.S.
768
64.1
246,814
78.1
8.7
269,027
78.4
937
46.8
498,509
33.7
8.1
538,888
33.9
1064
53.1
978,923
66.3
7.5
1,052,343
55.1
U.S.
1368
38.9
105,378
2.1
7.7
113,808
2.1
NON-US
2146
61.1
4,963,554
97.9
6.8
5,311,003
97.9
SOCIAL SCIENCES CITATION INDEX
U.S.
NON-U.S.
7.8
SCIENCE CITATION INDEX
PROJECTED OVERALL INCREASE FOR ALL ISI TITLES: 7.7%
SOURCE: LJ PERIODICALS PRICE SURVEY 2010
7.3
But which one is right for me?
It depends.
 It is very important to understand what goes
into a pricing tool and how it resembles or
departs from local conditions.

Questions?