[comp.software-eng] The High Cost Of Journals

daveb@geaclib.UUCP (David Collier-Brown) (12/31/88)

> In article <43150@linus.UUCP> munck@faron.UUCP (Robert Munck) writes:
>>I just received an advertising flyer from John Wiley & Sons for
>>the journal "Software Practice & Experience." 
[...]
>>Until, that is, you come to the subscription price.  This flyer
>>offers a mark-down from $315/year to $236.25/year for "personal
>>subscriptions mailed to a home address."  (Twelve issues.)

  You will find that this is a problem that the library community is
having to deal with: all the journals are becoming VERY expensive.
  When I was at Geac, the problem was just becoming evident to the
hangers-on (meaning us), and the librarians were being quite blunt
about it.

  To paraphrase:
	The journal publishers have a captive market in the academic 
	libraies, and have a seller's market in that academics
	**must** publish in the learned journals.  Therefore they
	feel free to raise the prices arbitrarily.

  The best approach is to start a consortium (I used to read Ian
Winton's copy) or contribute to the university library of your
choice.

-dave c-b
-- 
 David Collier-Brown.  | yunexus!lethe!dave
 Interleaf Canada Inc. |
 1550 Enterprise Rd.   | He's so smart he's dumb.
 Mississauga, Ontario  |       --Joyce C-B