Academic journal costs - a Freedom of Information request to University of Leeds - WhatDoTheyKnow

"Dear Mr Lawson

As promised, I have consulted with Elsevier regarding the disclosure of pricing information. They remain reluctant, and regard this information as very much ‘corporate proprietary information’. They note that ‘The pricing information was acknowledged by the parties at the time the contract was entered into as Confidential Information and limits on its disclosure were specified in the contract, one of the reasons we have the provisions about consultation in the event of FOIA requests. From Elsevier's perspective, the requested information would disclose the licensing fees we have negotiated with an individual institution in very specific circumstances, including a negotiated level of discount. The disclosure of this information more widely than permitted in the contract will damage our negotiating position in arrangements which may be argued to be analogous with that of the University – which represents a large percentage of our market and, potentially, our position on negotiation of discounts against list price generally. This would provide our competitors and other third parties with significant commercially sensitive information. We also believe that disclosure of this type of information may damage the interests of the University should it wish to negotiate tailored solutions for licensing of content and discounts from list prices in the future.’

Elsevier also content that ‘confidentiality clauses serve a useful role for the library and other institutions as they allow the parties to arrive at a fair and competitive negotiated and customized price for every customer. In a world with full pricing transparency, the best pricing model that publishers could offer is list price, or some variant of it. Thus, the end result is that some customers will pay more than they do today, and others less. But more importantly, the disclosure of pricing terms will inhibit publishers’ ability to develop flexible, tailored solutions suitable for a particular customer’s needs and it may be detrimental to the customer’s negotiations with other publishers. The revealing of pricing information may also lead to increased prices for some with unique circumstances such as GDP, economic hardship, growth, length of relationship and other factors that work in their favor.’

Elsevier has advised me, however, that they do make some pricing information publicly available, and that they would be prepared to discuss providing additional information to you on a confidential basis ‘if we understood more about the purpose of the request (e.g. whether this is part of a broad research survey). ‘

The publicly available information can be found by following the hyperlinks below:

• Journal pricing: http://www.elsevier.com/librarians/journ...  • Pricing of mathematics journals: http://www.elsevier.com/physical-science...

With respect to the Article Processing Charges (APCs) for hybrid journals and APCs for open access journals Elsevier have referred me to their Open Access price list which can be found here: (http://cdn.elsevier.com/promis_misc/j.cu....

If these links will provide enough information for you, with the other pricing information that I have already provided, I will close my file on this request. If, however, you still require more detail, then please let me know so that I can discuss further the public interest balance with Elsevier and, I hope, arrive at an agreed resolution for all involved."