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Journal Access at NCSU
Serials Reviews
University Library Committee Presentations
Elsevier
Resources for evaluating journals
Serials Reviews
Journal prices have been rising faster than collections budgets over the last 20 years or so. Even though more journals become available every year the
ability of university libraries to subscribe to new journals is diminishing. This phenomenon has been documented in numerous articles and web sites.
Serials expenditures are growing at a faster rate than the consumer price index as illustrated in this graph.
Prior to cancelling journal subscriptions the Libraries conducts a serials review to determine which journals are poor value for the price paid or
which are no longer appropriate for the collection. The latest Serials Review
was conducted in Spring 2006. It was prompted by a reduction in the allocation from research overhead. Collection Managers carefully assess the
current subscriptions and suggest journals for cancellation. Faculty participation is highly encouraged in serials reviews in order to avoid
cancellation of journals highly relevant to research and teaching activities.
Serials Reviews were also conducted in 2005 and 2002.
This web page provides links to information about actions taken at other universities against high journal prices.
University Library Committee Presentations
Librarians have made numerous presentations to faculty at University Library Committee meetings. The data
presented here illustrate the difficulty of providing access to research findings in conjunction with
serials inflation and a stagnant budget. An analysis of the collections budget and the allocation of funds between monographs and serials are also provided.
Elsevier
Commercial publishers, such as Elsevier, have been blamed for the high annual inflation of journal subscriptions. Numerous university libraries stood up to Elsevier several years ago by cancelling journal subscriptions and refusing to continue to subscribe
to bundled journals. NCSU Libraries created a series of web pages
documenting the issues and proposed solutions. Actions taken at other universities are summarized on this web page.
Resources for evaluating journals
NCSU Libraries subscribes to several electronic resources which can aid faculty in evaluating journals.
You can find how much institutions, such as NCSU Libraries, pay for journal subscriptions at
Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory.
Journal impact factors can be obtained at Journal Citation Reports
and information regarding local citation of journals is obtained from the Local Journal Utilization Report (please contact a collection manager for access).Journal Cost-Effectiveness 2006 Beta can be used to rank journals by price per article or price per citation.
Bergstrom and Bergstrom provide data for the effect of price and
citation rate for ecology journals.
SHERPA/RoMEO provides information on publisher copyright policies and whether authors are given
permission for self-archiving.
Cornell University and
UCSF have produced web pages illustrating the exorbitant prices of serials
by providing some shocking comparisons.
The State of the Large Publisher Bundle: findings from an ARL member survey
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