Re: Graphing the Bergstrom and McAfee Journal Pricing Data

[Phil Davis <pmd8@cornell.edu>]

While I respect the right of Lisa Dittrich and Morna Conway to argue about 
ownership issues and whether LWW should be grouped under Springer-Kluwer 
or separated out as a separate publisher group, I'm surprised that the 
discussion over these graphs has not taken a more comprehensive and 
comparative view.  It is hyperbolic to argue that these categorical 
disputes amount to "big errors" or that it should weaken one's "confidence 
in anything these guys are doing".  Let's not digress to ad hominem 
attacks and focus on some obvious conclusions that can be derived from the 
analysis and graphs.

1) a confirmation of large price differentials between profit and 
for-profit publishers.  This shouldn't be surprising as this merely 
confirms pricing studies over the last 25 years.

2) that some publishers (when adjusted for the number of articles they 
publish, citations they receive, or subject field) are more costly than 
others.

What is surprising to me (as a librarian), is that the data suggest that 
certain commercial publishers who mainly focus on the social science and 
humanities market appear to be more costly (on a relative basis) than the 
usual STM suspects.

If we are to argue the summary statistics and graphs from the Bergstrom 
and McAfee dataset, it would be more constructive to debate whether the 
measures they employ are good indicators of "value", whether they are 
still relevant in a world of big deals, or whether these data can be used 
to make generalizations about certain publishers or certain fields.

--Phil Davis

At 11:56 AM 12/1/2005, you wrote:
> There is certainly reason for confusion!  Wolters Kluwer owns LWW (as well
> as OVID).  The following quote from the Springer website describes the
> Springer-Kluwer Academic merger:
>
> "In 1999, Bertelsmann AG acquired a majority share in the scientific
> publishing company Springer-Verlag for its professional information
> division, having previously bought up B.G. Teubner, which it brought into
> the "marriage" with Springer, along with other well-known publishing houses
> such as Gabler and Heinrich Vogel, to create BertelsmannSpringer.
>
> In April 2003, Kluwer Academic Publishers and then the BertelsmannSpringer
> Group were taken over by the British financial investors Cinven and
> Candover. Soon afterwards, in October 2003, the company was renamed Springer
> Science+Business Media."
>
> It would be helpful if Philip Davis could clarify the Major Publishers
> listing, as certainly Springer belongs in there, but so, one would imagine,
> does Wolters Kluwer (or Lippincott Williams & Wilkins as an entity under
> Wolters-Kluwer).
>
> Morna
>
>
> --
> Morna H. Conway, Ph.D.
> Journal Publishing Consultant
> Office: (931) 684-5588
> Email: mconway@infionline.net