An update on Royal Society journal prices as librarians we reach the middle of the renewals cycle.
An update on Royal Society journal prices as librarians we reach the middle of the renewals cycle.
As many green open access journals accept increasing numbers of paid OA articles, librarians have rightly pointed out that it’s not appropriate for publishers to charge for both subscriptions and APC’s; the so-called ‘double dipping’.
Here at the Royal Society we do not double dip. We account for changes through our transparent pricing mechanism. This means that as we publish more open access articles, we charge less for our subscriptions to ensure that the cost to our readers remains stable.
For 2020 an increase in open access articles means that the list price of Package A, which covers all our physical sciences and cross disciplinary articles, will drop by 3%.
The most popular method for librarians to purchase subscriptions from the Royal Society is through Package S; the Excellence in Science Collection, which provides access to all our journal content. In 2020 the cost of this package will also drop, by just under 1%. A substantial saving when measured against predicted price rises from some publishers of 5 – 6%.
Package B, which provides access to our biological and life sciences articles, will drop by 0.7%.
If you have any questions about subscribing to journals from the Royal Society, please contact your local representative.
Download the Royal Society Publishing catalogue for details of our 2020 subscription prices, and see individual journal pages for information on submitting a paper to be published open access.
