NEWSLETTER ON SERIALS PRICING ISSUES

NO 143 -- September 9, 1995

Editor: Marcia Tuttle

ISSN: 1046-3410

CONTENTS

143.2 AN INTERESTING JOURNAL MARKETING PLOY, Jeannette Buckingham

143.3 FROM THE MAILBOX

143.1 LETTER TO LIBRARIANS FROM ELSEVIER'S CHAIRMAN

Herman P. Spruijt, Elsevier Science B.V., P.O. Box 2400, 1000 CK Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Amsterdam, August 1995

Dear Librarian,

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the newly-
appointed Chairman of Elsevier Science, effective May 1st of this year. 
Continuing the tradition set by my predecessor, James Kels, I want to pro-
vide you with an overview for the coming year as we announce our journal 
prices for 1996. We have finalized Elsevier Science journal prices during 
the past few weeks and we are currently dispatching this information to our 
major subscription agents worldwide. Libraries and the remaining agents 
will receive printed price lists within two weeks.

The Outlook for 1996

The pricing outlook for 1996 is particularly difficult for our subscribers 
in the Americas, with an average price increase of 23.9% in U.S. dollars. 
The overall average 1996 price increase for Elsevier Science journals, 
based upon prices in the countries of publication, is 11.0% and includes 
page growth of 4.9%. This applies to the entire list of Elsevier Science 
journals published in Amsterdam, Lausanne, New York, Oxford, Paris and 
Shannon. As you are no doubt aware, the U.S. dollar has been badly battered 
on international monetary markets recently, reaching all-time lows relative 
to many European currencies. This is the single most influential factor 
affecting our 1996 subscription prices to American subscribers. Enclosed is 
a chart (Attachment A) showing ten-year trends in the relationship of the 
U.S. dollar to currencies in those countries where Elsevier Science jour-
nals are published and originally priced. [Sorry, not able to reproduce. -
Ed.] You will notice the continuing downward trend of the dollar during the 
past decade and, most notably for 1996 subscriptions, its performance in 
the past twelve months.

A Special Arrangement for 1996

We recognize that the impact of a weakened dollar will be keenly felt by 
our American subscribers, especially for our largest, highest priced ti-
tles. In an effort to share some of the impact of the exchange rate shift, 
we have implemented a short-term policy in which Elsevier Science will 
absorb 5% of the 1996 price increases for selected titles. This initiative 
covers 32 of our most prestigious titles or subscription combinations cost-
ing more than Dfl. 10,000, or its equivalent in Swiss francs, and published 
in Amsterdam and Lausanne, our publishing offices where the dollar's deval-
uation is most dramatic. Please see Attachment B for a list of titles and 
further information on this program. This 5% price reduction is guaranteed 
through December 31, 1995, after which time dollar prices for these titles 
will be re-calculated at the standard exchange rates applied to our list 
overall. 

Distributing Currency Transactions Over 12 Months

Two years ago, in order to mitigate the effects of short-term currency 
fluctuation, Elsevier Science introduced a policy of firm U.S. dollar pric-
es for our American customers. This process involves distributing currency 
transactions evenly over a twelve-month period. In the past year, Elsevier 
Science has continued to sell dollars in monthly installments, with the 
dollar exchange rate used for our 1996 projections benefitting from a 
stronger dollar last fall. The enclosed Chart (Attachment C) [not included; 
compares the publisher's 1996 exchange rates with the July 20, 1995 bank 
rates in New York and with the 1995 Elsevier exchange rates. -Ed.] demon-
strates further the benefit that has accrued to American customers as a 
result of this currency policy.

A Continuing  Commitment

As the new chairman, I remain committed to the high levels of quality that 
the Elsevier, Pergamon, North-Holland and Excerpta Medica imprints have 
long represented. We continue an active collaboration with our partners in 
the scientific communication chain -- researchers, editors and librarians -
- to maintain rigorous editorial and production standards in the print 
environment. At the same time, we are actively exploring the many opportun-
ities offered by electronic developments....
----------

                               ATTACHMENT B
                    Titles Offering 5% Savings for 1996
[Elsevier's list also gives 1996 Dfl/SFr price and amt of dollar savings.]

AMSTERDAM                                    $ Price thru    $ Price after
Journal Title                                Dec. 31, 1995   Jan. 1, 1996

Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (Complete)          8837           9302
Brain Research (Complete)                        12234          12878
Chemical Physics Letters                          6569           6915
Journal of Chromatography (Complete)              7861           8274
Journal of Chromatography: A                      6519           6862
Journal of Crystal Growth                         6207           6534
Journal of Molecular Structure (Complete)         6384           6720
Mutation Research (Complete)                      5862           6171
Nuclear Instruments & Methods (Complete)         11625          12237
Nuclear Instruments & Methods: A                  6933           7298
Nuclear Physics (Complete)                       14625          15395
Nuclear Physics: A                                6089           6410
Nuclear Physics: B                                9413           9909
Physica: A, B, C, D (Complete)                   11981          12611
Physica: A, B, C                                 10425          10973
Physica: A, B, D                                  8292           8729
Physica: A, C, D                                  9714          10225
Physica: B, C, D                                  9951          10474
Physica: A, B                                     6415           6753
Physica: A, C                                     7955           8374
Physica: B, C                                     8212           8644
Physica: B, D                                     5902           6213
Physica: C, D                                     7442           7834
Physics Letters (Complete)                       10635          11195
Physics Letters: B                                5851           6159
Surface Science (Complete)                       10460          11010
Surface Science (Incl Sur Sci Letters)            7507           7902

LAUSANNE

Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry (Complete) 6626           6975
Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry            6073           6393
Journal of Organometallic Chemistry               5968           6283
Materials Science and Engineering (Complete)      7042           7414
Thin Solid Films                                  6384           6721

143.2 AN INTERESTING JOURNAL MARKETING PLOY

Jeanette Buckingham, University of Alberta, jbucking@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca.

[Received July 20, 1995. -Ed.]

I have been approached by a faculty member who had had two small articles 
accepted for publication by a relatively new British journal, titled _Endo-
crine_ (published by Macmillan). Subsequently, he was sent a bill for ap-
proximately $900 in page charges, accompanied by a yellow sheet with the 
following message: 

                                 "BE A HERO!!
    If your institutional library subscribes to ENDOCRINE--no one at your 
    institution will be billed page charges. Please send your librarian a 
    note requesting that your library subscribe..."  

The journal is not a high priority among our users (except for the poor 
fellow with the $900 page charges), has not yet been accepted for indexing 
for Medline, has not been requested on interlibrary loan, and is at the end 
of a very long list of desiderata we can't afford.

This practice may be common in other disciplines, but I find it a pretty 
low form of blackmail. Having been an editor in a previous life, I sympa-
thize with the problems of starting new journals; as a librarian, I am less 
sympathetic to additional redundant journals, especially those who invite 
us to subscribe while holding a gun to the heads of our clients.

My feeling -- or one of my more printable feelings! -- about this effort on 
the part of the editors/publishers of _Endocrine_ to market the journal by 
threats of page charges smacks of a publication about to bite the dust. You 
might be interested that two years after starting life as _Endocrine Jour-
nal_ it changed its name to _Endocrine_ -- another half-baked marketing 
ploy perhaps? Macmillan should know better.

Could anyone give me a little perspective on this, please? Thanks for any 
advice you can provide.

143.3 FROM THE MAILBOX

The mailbox is: tuttle@gibbs.oit.unc.edu.

>From Barbara Via, University at Albany (bv848@cnsvax.albany.edu):

I am new to the list and am wondering if there has been discussion/concern 
over MCB University Press' taking over _Collection Building_ and also _The 
Bottom Line_, two periodicals formerly published by Neal Schuman. These two 
titles have always been very reasonably priced. The MCB University Press 
Library Science titles that I am familiar with, _Library Review_ and _Li-
brary Management_, are priced at about $1200 US and $3199 US respectively! 
Does anyone know if _Collection Building_ and _Bottom Line_ will be going 
up astronomically in price as a result of the change in publisher?
----------

>From Dorothy Ruyak, Williams & Wilkins Publishers (druyak@wwilkins.com), 
writing on July 24, 1995 in response to discussion on various listservers:
     
In April, Williams & Wilkins enhanced its customer service capabilities 
when it moved to a new computer system called Publisher's Advantage Comput-
ing System. The advantage to us is greater flexibility in processing work, 
easier to access information in responding to customer telephone calls, and 
quicker response to special situations of interest to our customers. Advan-
tage is a product of T and B Computing out of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
     
One of the first activities on the new system was to send renewals to  
subscribers in 1994 who had not renewed. We focused on those subscribers 
who subscribed through a subscription agent in the past, but who, according 
to our records, had not renewed for 1995. Because of the conversion and the 
way the records were maintained on the old system, a number of renewal 
notices were sent to those who had already renewed through a new agent. In 
some cases, institutional subscribers received as many as 54 separate, 
seemingly duplicate, notices. We apologize for any inconvenience these 
notices may have caused, but thank you for your patience. Records were 
corrected as we received information from you.

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Statements of fact and opinion appearing in the _Newsletter on Serials 
Pricing Issues_ are made on the responsibility of the authors alone, and do 
not imply the endorsement of the editor, the editorial board, or the Uni-
versity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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The NEWSLETTER ON SERIALS PRICING ISSUES (ISSN: 1046-3410) is published by 
the editor through the Office of Information Technology at the University 
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as news is available. Editor: Marcia 
Tuttle, Internet: tuttle@gibbs.oit.unc.edu; Paper mail: Serials Department, 
CB #3938 Davis Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel 
Hill NC 27514-8890; Telephone: 919 962-1067; FAX: 919 962-4450. Editorial 
Board: Deana Astle (Clemson University), Christian Boissonnas (Cornell 
University), Jerry Curtis (Springer Verlag New York), Janet Fisher (MIT 
Press), Fred Friend (University College, London), Charles Hamaker (Louisi-
ana State University), Daniel Jones (University of Texas Health Science 
Center), Michael Markwith (Swets North America), James Mouw (University of 
Chicago), and Heather Steele (Blackwell's Periodicals Division). The News-
letter is available on the Internet, Blackwell's CONNECT, and Readmore's 
ROSS. EBSCO customers may receive the Newsletter in paper format.

To subscribe to the newsletter send a message to LISTSERV@UNC.EDU saying 
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Issues are also archived on the listserver. To get a list of available 
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