Slide Show Presentation (PDF format), last updated 6/10/2005

The Issues

• Scholars and researchers both create and consume scholarly information; scholars and researchers add the true value to scholarly communication yet they are not in control of the system
• Scholarly communication has become an international, multi-billion dollar business; the current journal market is not economically sustainable
• Ongoing consolidation in the publishing industry has squeezed out competition and increased prices
• Rapidly escalating journal prices have led to libraries providing access to an increasingly smaller portion of the published literature

The Facts

• Currently, 121 North American members of the Association for Research Libraries spend a total of $765M on journal subscriptions. The Johns Hopkins Libraries spend over 9.5M annually
• From 1986-2006, the average journal subscription priced often increased more than 10% annually. From 2003-2007, all 31 disciplines cited in Library Journal's Annual Price Survey experienced double digit increases. Science/Technology/Medicine titles continue to post very high increases
• Over the past 15 years, the price of research journals has risen more than 200% while the Consumer Price Index went up 57% in the same period

A Call to Action

• Stakeholders in the scholarly communications process must create and support competitive alternatives to the present profit-oriented system
• Intellectual property rights must stay with authors and universities; authors must negotiate to retain certain rights, e.g., the right to post their work on their own websites, distribute copies to their classes, or deposit work in a university or public repository
• The costs of scholarly communication must be brought into a reasonable relationship to value

The Johns Hopkins Libraries are currently engaging faculty from across the university to develop strategies to address these critical issues. Please explore this site for more information about initiatives underway at Johns Hopkins.