Big Deals vs Society published journals

Many Big Deals are sold on the basis of the library receiving a substantial discount, but after comparing their price/page or price/article and factoring in their lower Impact Factors … many presumably discounted ‘commercial’  Big Deals are still substantially overpriced compared with their ‘society’ counterparts.

I wish more recognition would be given to the pricing policies of the American Physical Society (APS), who has long been very open about their publication costs and … even with a small built-in ‘profit’ … their pricing should be an example for all.

For example (using the APS Large Research Institution pricing):

APS: Physical Review C   2013=$ 1940   2013articles=1146   Price/article=$1.69    5yearIF=3.34  price/article/IF=$0.51

Elsevier: Nuclear Physics A   2013=$6,138    2013articles=545   Price/article=$11.26   5yearIF=1.39  price/article/IF=$8.10

On the basis of the price/article … a reasonable subscription price (based on APS pricing) for Elsevier’s Nuclear Physics A should be ~$920.

Assuming that Elsevier’s publication process is as efficient as that of the APS … Elsevier is garnering a profit of over 560% on this title.