EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) has released the 2018 Serials Price Projection Report. The report projects that the overall effective publisher price increases for academic and academic/medical libraries are expected to be in the range of five to six percent (before currency impact). EBSCO released the Serials Price Projections based on surveys of a wide range of publishers and reviews of historical serials pricing data to assist information professionals as they make budgeting decisions for the renewals season.
The Serials Price Projection Report looks at market dynamics highlighting many issues that have driven the scholarly information marketplace for several years including: library budgets, Open Access, government mandates, shifts in political climates, new assessment and evaluation tools and alternative distribution networks. The emergence of organised piracy, which may grow as a disruptive force in the marketplace, is also a topic in the report.
The healthy US economy is a stabilising force and academic library budgets in the US are showing some improvements, but libraries in many countries outside of the US are still seeing notable decreases in budgets. Even without budget decreases, libraries are experiencing serial costs outpacing budget growth. The US dollar has weakened relative to some currencies and this will impact libraries paying in euro and pounds sterling as the strength of local currencies may eliminate some pricing increases for titles priced in US dollars. The report recommends that customers add an additional two to four percent to the estimated price increases when budgeting. This provides added protection from the possible weakening of their currency between now and when subscription payments are made.
Although the serial price forecasts are based upon careful analysis, EBSCO recommends caution when using these projections, as they rely on historical trends and current estimates. EBSCO will update the projection information if economic conditions warrant it.
The 2018 Serials Price Projection Report in its entirety and the Five-Year Journal Price Increase History is available at http://journals.ebsco.com/products-services/explore-content.
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