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Article
Evaluating big deal journal bundles
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2014)
  • Ted C Bergstrom, University of California, Santa Barbara
Abstract

Large commercial publishers sell bundled online subscriptions to their entire list of academic journals at prices significantly lower than the sum of their á la carte prices. Bundle prices differ drastically between institutions, but they are not publicly posted. The data that we have collected enable us to compare the bundle prices charged by commercial publishers with those of nonprofit societies and to examine the types of price discrimination practiced by commercial and nonprofit journal publishers. This information is of interest to economists who study monopolist pricing, librarians interested in making efficient use of library budgets, and scholars who are interested in the availability of the work that they publish.

Keywords
  • monopoly | bargaining | all-or-nothing price | efficiency | information technology
Publication Date
July 1, 2014
Publisher Statement
Copy at publisher's website http://www.pnas.org/content/111/26/9425.abstract
Citation Information
Ted C Bergstrom. "Evaluating big deal journal bundles" Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Vol. 111 Iss. 26 (2014)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ted_bergstrom/124/