Guest Editorial: Journal Costs: Perception and Reality in the Dialogue | Thompson | College & Research Libraries

"Most of the strain on our budgets is gener~ted by the journals of a few publishers, owned and directed by large multinational holding companies with diverse interests. These conglomerates are rapidly acquiring firms engaged in all related aspects of the information business, such as telecommunications, printing, and database brokering. Their profits are considerable (e.g., Pergamon Journals' pretax profit of £19,000,000 on a turnover of £49,000,000 in 1985). And in spite of our sincere attempts at dialogue, their credibility is almost exhausted. We've heard every imaginable excuse for this year's price increases, from the fact that it's an election year (per Robert Miranda, president of Pergamon Press, at ALA) to poor business judgment the previous year (Gordon & Breach, in a November 1987 mailing). These publishers are not really in the business of education; their business is making money. Robert Maxwell, whose many holdings include Pergamon journals, recently laid out his approach to publishing in an interview in his own new journal, Global Business (Spring 1988, p.41+ ): "I set up a perpetual financing machine through advance subscriptions as well as the profits on the sales themselves. It is a cash generator twice over. It's no use trying to compete with me." His interviewer defines Maxwell's original strategy: "If Pergamon could win the trust of scientists it could establish the standard journal in each specialisation, and that would give it a series of publishing monopolies . . . scientists are not generally as price-conscious as other professionals, mainly because they are not spending their own money.'' ..."