2006 PRICING MODEL

INTRODUCTION

The Council of the APS has established journal prices for 2006. The price changes averaged over all tiers and subscription modes are the equivalent of a 1.79% increase if applied across the board.

ONLINE ONLY

The cost of subscribing to the content of Physical Review A-E (PRA-E), Physical Review Letters (PRL), Physical Review Online Archive (PROLA), and Reviews of Modern Physics (RMP), as reflected in the Online-Only subscriptions, will DECREASE for the lowest tiers, 1 and 2. The cost will be UNCHANGED for tier 3. For the largest institutions there will be a small INCREASE. PROLA, with journal content back to 1893, will continue to be available at no cost to subscribers of the APS packages (PR-All and APS-All) and at a very modest cost to those subscribing to portions of the package. The Online-Only price changes are the equivalent of a DECREASE of 0.5% if applied across the board. These changes are in keeping with the Society's goal of restraining prices while gradually moving the burden for supporting the publication operation to larger institutions. The specific price changes for Online-Only access in 2006 are:

• Tier 1 Online-Only prices will decrease 3.0%
• Tier 2 Online-Only prices will decrease 2.0%
• Tier 3 Online-Only prices will be unchanged
• Tier 4 Online-Only prices will increase 2.0%
• Tier 5 Online-Only prices will increase 3.0%

These price changes are taken despite a 5% growth in both the number of submitted manuscripts and the number of published papers last year, and the expectation that this growth will continue in 2006. Typically the extra cost associated with such a large growth in manuscripts, coupled with normal inflation, would lead to higher price increases. However, the long and intense development of new technology, both by the Society and its vendors, as well as persistent attention to cost control by all of the APS publications staff has helped to keep prices down. APS prices continue to represent the Society's commitment to returning the advantages of technology to the community.

ONLINE-PLUS-PRINT

The price changes summarized above refer to the cost of Online access to the basic intellectual material. Online access is the most cost effective and functional method of distribution. We price the Online-Only subscription to cover the cost of producing the journal content and of electronic distribution. In this way we make the basic material available at the lowest possible cost. At the same time, the majority of our customers continue receiving a copy of the material in the traditional print format. The APS has no agenda to discourage any particular way of receiving the journals.

We price print subscriptions to cover the basic cost of producing the content plus the cost of producing and distributing the print copy. Because of the reduction in the number of subscribers purchasing print journals, the fixed setup costs are shared by fewer customers. The result is an increase in the added cost for print distribution. As a consequence, the price of Print-plus-Online access is INCREASING for all tiers, although the largest increase, that for tier 4, is still below the anticipated increase in the number of manuscripts to be published. The specific price changes for Print-plus-Online access in 2006 are:

• Tier 1 Print-plus-Online prices will increase 1.0%
• Tier 2 Print-plus-Online prices will increase 1.5%
• Tier 3 Print-plus-Online prices will increase 3.0%
• Tier 4 Print-plus-Online prices will increase 3.5%
• Tier 5 Print-plus-Online prices will increase 4.0%

All price changes given above are for APS-ALL and PR-ALL. While individual journals will in general have the same price changes, special adjustments have been made to the price of Physical Review D and Physical Review E single title subscriptions to account for their exceptional growth in recent years. A full listing of prices is available at: http://librarians.aps.org/Price06.pdf

SETTING PRICES FOR 2006

The elected Council of the APS sets the prices of the journals after advice by the Publications Oversight Committee (POC). Two representatives of the library community, appointed in consultation with the Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics (PAM) division of the Special Library Association (SLA), attend the POC committee meetings as observers and advisors. The guidelines set down by Council are that the journal prices should cover costs with sufficient margin to allow for the uncertainty in predicting costs and revenue two years in advance.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Debra Baily, Rice University, and Susan Fingerman, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory for their time, effort, and dedication in serving as librarian advisors for the past two years.

For 2006 it is assumed the size of the journal will grow by 5% from 2005. This is based on a comparable growth in submitted articles over most of 2004 and the fact that we see no trend that will cause that growth to change. We are moving rapidly to fully electronic manuscript handling in the office. This is a major factor in controlling costs. In addition, we are anticipating some reduction in composition and production costs. After all of the predictable factors for expenses are folded in with the revenue expectations, the APS Council moved forward to set prices for 2006.

Having reviewed the background, philosophy and details of the 2006 APS pricing model, we welcome discussion and comments. If you have any questions or concerns, please write to us at assocpub@aps.org.

Thomas J. McIlrath
Treasurer/Publisher
American Physical Society