Chapter Five: Findings of the study
5.4 Analysis of the journal data
The results of the analysis of the journal data are reported in this section. The previous section (5.3) reported the benefits of print and electronic journals respectively. The subscription costs for print and e-journals paid by the Library and compared with those for previous years will be discussed. The differences and changes will be explained and discussed here. The data in this section was reported under the Discipline, namely Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geography, Geology, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics as the journal subscriptions are also paid for according to these categories. The Library pays for journals in advance. The subscription is paid in October to November of each year for the year following. The data provided below indicated the year in which the journal was received and not the year it was paid for. For example, the 2004 journal subscriptions indicate the year the journals are being received. These journals were paid for in 2003. A current subscription refers to all the journal titles that are being received in the current year.
5.4.1 Science print journal subscriptions for 2002 to 2004
Table 23 presents the print journal subscriptions from 2002 to 2004. These are the current journal titles that were received from 2002 to 2004 that are still subscribed to. The total subscription cost paid by the Library for each Discipline, with the average cost per title and the number of titles, is illustrated. The intention in Table 23 was to show how average print journal costs and total subscription costs have increased from 2002 to 2004. The most costly titles were from Chemistry in 2002 and 2003. But in 2004 the highest average cost per title was in Physics, followed very closely by Chemistry. The subscription paid in 2003 for Chemistry journals was more than twice the amount paid in 2004. (See sections below)
Table 23 : Print journal subscriptions by Discipline, their cost and average cost per title from 2002 to 2004
Print journals only Number of titles Total cost Average cost per title 2004
Biology 39 227 328.39 5 828.93
Chemistry 27 296 265.47 10 972.79
Geography 26 165 530.44 6 366.55
Geology 54 416 215.06 7 707.68
Computer Science 14 105 025.59 7 501.82
Mathematics and Statistics 30 278 132.90 9 271.09
Physics 13 171 025.46 13 155.80
2003
Biology 48 321 023.58 6 687.99
Chemistry 29 765 426.54 26 394.01
Geography 30 193 239.53 6 441.31
Geology 56 615 482.80 10 990.76
Computer Science 12 120 190.62 10 015.88
Mathematics 22 341 567.16 15 525.78
Statistics 7 60 622.18 8 660.31
Physics 19 317 866.12 16 729.79
2002
Biology 69 523 415.74 7 585.73
Chemistry 44 717 767.17 16 312.89
Geography 42 213 908.09 5 093.04
Geology 66 442 284.06 6 701.27
Computer Science 24 142 030.46 5 917.90
Mathematics 29 312 876.16 10 788.83
Statistics 9 43 933.60 4 881.51
Physics 31 458 350.83 14 785.00
The table indicates that in 2003 the journal subscriptions for all Disciplines were higher than in 2002 and 2004. This is due to a number of reasons which will be discussed in the next chapter. Comment on this table is provided in section 5.4.3
5.4.2 Science electronic journal subscriptions for 2003 to 2004 Table 24 presents the electronic journal subscriptions from 2003 to 2004. These are the electronic journal titles that were received in 2003 and 2004. There were no electronic journal subscriptions in 2002. The Disciplines of Biology, Geography, Geology, Computer Science and Statistics had no electronic journal subscriptions in the period 2003 to 2004. The electronic title subscribed to in the School of Mathematics is MathSciNet which is an index and is the equivalent of Mathematical Reviews in print. It is regarded as an electronic journal by the Library and is therefore included in the table.
Table 24: Electronic journal subscriptions by Discipline, their cost and average cost per title from 2003 to 2004
Electronic journals only No. of titles Total cost Average cost per title 2004
Biology 0 0 0
Chemistry 6 78 998.84 13 166.47
Geography 0 0 0
Geology 0 0 0
Computer Science 0 0 0
Mathematics & Statistics 1 21 073.37 0
Physics 23 258 696.38 11 247.66
2003
Biology 0 0
Chemistry 6 73 671.75 12 278.62
Geography 0 0
Geology 0 0
Computer Science 0 0
Mathematics 1 21 073.37 21 073.37
Statistics 0 0
Physics 23 349 142.30 15 180.10
The Physics titles are made up of a suite of titles from the Institute of Physics (IOP) and the American Institute of Physics (AIP). The AIP subscription is shared with the UNP libraries.
UND Libraries only pays half the subscription for the nine American Physical Society electronic journal titles. The consistently highly priced titles are Physics and Chemistry.
Had the Library paid the full subscription, then Physics titles would have been the most costly, but despite this sharing of the costs, the subscription for Physics titles is substantially high.
The most costly electronic title in 2004 was in Chemistry, as was the case with the print journals. In 2003, the most costly title was in Physics.
5.4.3 Difference in number of print and electronic journals from 2002 to 2004
Due to budgetary constraints the Library has been canceling print journals from 2002 to 2004.
Table 25 shows the difference in the number of print and electronic journal titles from 2002 to 2004 and the decrease in the number of print journals from 2002 to 2004.
The print journals were cancelled for budgetary and various other reasons, which will be discussed in the next chapter. From 2002 to 2004 the number of titles for each School decreases. In 2004 the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences combined their journal subscriptions. From 2004 the journal subscriptions are indicated as one total. Twenty titles were cancelled from 2003 to 2004 overall. But 91 journal titles were cancelled from 2002 to 2003.
Although each School or Department had cancelled titles from 2002 to 2004 due to budgetary constraints as stated in section 5.4.1, in 2004 some Schools subscribed to new journal titles, re-instated old subscriptions as well as cancelled some journal titles. In 2004 it was decided that each School should re-look at its journal subscriptions. Schools had to indicate to the library the titles that should be renewed, cancelled and reinstated. The Schools that had done so were Geography, Biology, Geology and Mathematics. The total reinstatements were 32, six new journal subscriptions, and 58 cancellations.
As Science is a multidisciplinary field, other Faculties were informed of this cancellation exercise and were given the opportunity to take on the cancelled journal subscriptions from Science. As some of these titles are used by other Faculties, the Library gave the other Faculties the opportunity to transfer these titles before cancellation, as once a title is cancelled, it takes a while to re-instate. The Faculty of Engineering had some of the
cancelled Science titles transferred to their budget. The library also transferred some titles to its General Fund, such as Chemical Abstracts, the American Institute of Physics and the Institute of Physics titles because it made economic sense to retain these titles and these titles are being used by users other than those in the Faculty of Science. The Faculty of Science could not afford these titles but because there were of a multidisciplinary nature, the Library decided to transfer them to another fund rather than canceling the title. For example, Chemical Abstracts is used by Chemical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Health Sciences. Chemical Abstracts was a Chemistry subscription and the suite of IOP titles were a Physics subscription previously. Therefore the figures for 2004 only indicate that 20 titles were cancelled but this figure is in fact higher. With the new subscriptions the difference in titles from 2003 to 2004 are just 20.
Table 25 : Differences in number of journal titles by Discipline from 2002 to 2004 Discipline No. of print
titles 2002
No. of e-titles 2003
No. of print titles 2003
No. of e-titles 2004
No. of print titles 2004
Biology 69 0 48 0 39
Chemistry 44 6 29 6 27
Geography 42 0 30 0 26
Geology 66 0 56 0 54
Computer
Science 24 0 12 0 14
Mathematics 29 1 22 1 30
Statistics 9 0 7
Physics 31 23 19 23 13
Total 314 30 223 30 203
Table 25 indicates that there was no change in the number of electronic journals subscribed to in 2003 to 2004. The Library maintained its current electronic journal subscriptions, with no new subscriptions. The library did not subscribe to any electronic titles in 2002. Another reason for not subscribing to new e-journals is that Science could not afford its current print subscriptions and therefore was not in a position to take on new subscriptions.
5.4.4 Average price of print journal subscriptions from 2002 to 2004
The intention in Table 26 and 27 is to illustrate that from 2002 to 2004 there was a major difference in the average price of print journals. The difference in price is attributed to a number of reasons : the exchange rate, the inflation rate as well as the subscription cost of the journals. Another contributing factor was the bankruptcy of a major publishing vendor Rowecom/Faxon. As a result of their bankruptcy, a number of titles were not received and were cancelled. These subscriptions had to be taken over by the other journal vendors.
Table 26 : Average price of print journals by Discipline in 2002 and 2003 Discipline Average price
2002 Average price
2003 Difference % change 2002 – 2003
Biology 7 585.73 6 687.99 - 897.74 --11.8
Chemistry 16 312.89 26 394.01 10 081.12 61.7
Geography 5 093.04 6 441.31 1 348.27 26.4
Geology 6 701.27 10 990.76 4 289.49 64
Computer
Science 5917.90 10 015.88 4 097.98 69.2
Mathematics 10 788.83 15 525.78 4 736.95 43.9 Statistics 12 124.00 6 276.00 - 5 848.00 --48
Physics 14 785.51 16 729.79 1 944.28 13
With the print journals, the average cost of a Chemistry journal increased by 61.7 percent from 2002 to 2003 and decreased by 58.5 percent from 2003 to 2004.
Table 27 : Average price of print journals by Discipline in 2003 and 2004 Discipline Average price
2003 Average price
2004 Difference % change 2003 - 2004 Biology 6 687.99 5 828.93 -- 859.06 --12.8 Chemistry 26 394.01 10 927.79 --15 466.22 --58.5 Geography 6 441.31 5 093.04 -- 1 348.27 --21 Geology 10 990.76 7 707.68 -- 3 283.08 --29.8 Computer
Science 10 015.88 7 501.82 -- 2 514.06 --25 Mathematics 15 525.78 9 271.09 -- 12 530.69
--57.4
Statistics 6 276.00
Physics 16 729.79 13 155.80 -- 3 573.99 --21.3
The exchange rate in 2002 was high and therefore when the print journals were paid in 2002 the price was high compared to the price paid at the same time in 2003. Therefore the percentage difference for Biology and Mathematics and Statistics reflect a negative. Despite this rate fluctuation there were also increases in journal prices from 2002 to 2003.
As shown in Figure 4, the pound, euro and dollar were at their highest value in relation to the rand in October 2002. As a result the percent change from 2002 to 2003 for the journal subscriptions were as high as 69.2% in Computer Science and 61.7% for Chemistry. The library was paying more than double for the same number of titles.
Figure 4 : Exchange rate fluctuation in October 2002 to December 2003.
0 10 20 30 40
Oct- 02
Nov- 02
Dec- 02
Oct- 03
Nov- 03
Dec- 03 2002 - 2003
Rands Pound
Euro Dollar
5.4.5 Average price of electronic journals from 2003 to 2004
Table 28 illustrates the percent difference in average cost of electronic journals from 2003 to 2004. The difference between Physics titles in 2003 to 2004 was 35 percent when compared to the difference in cost for the print journal titles from 2003 to 2004, which was 21.3%. The average cost for the print journals were lower. The percentage change was almost the same for print and electronic titles in Physics for the period 2003 to 2004. With Chemistry titles the difference was 7%, but for the print journal titles the difference was 58.4% which is a
substantial difference in price.
Table 28 : Average price of electronic journals by Discipline in 2003 and 2004 Discipline Average
Price 2003
Average price 2004
Difference % change from 2003 to 2004 Chemistry 12 278.62 13 166.47 887.85 7.2%
Mathematics 21 073.37 21 073.37 0 0
Physics 15 180.10 11 247.66 -3932.44 30%
5.4.6 Effect of the funding formula
The Faculty of Science, one of the three most productive research faculties at the University of Natal, Durban, had to make substantial cuts in their journal subscriptions. In 2003 to maintain the Faculty‟s current subscriptions, the library would have had to spend 165% of its total allocations for books and journals. The Faculty spending the smallest fraction (28%) of its allocation on journals was the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Natal, Durban. A comparison of numbers of full-time academic staff and average cost of journals in the two faculties are shown in Table 29 below. (Walker 2003 : 9)
Table 29 : Comparison of number of academic staff and average journal costs for the Faculty of Management Studies and Science
Faculty Academic staff Average journal cost
Management Studies 54.0 R 1 551.00
Science 95.7 R 8 658.00
Since 2000, in round numbers Science has consistently produced about ten times more SAPSE publication units than Management Studies. On the basis of the above figures,
Management Studies is able to subscribe to 326 titles. The number of titles that the two Faculties can afford, on the basis of spending various fractions of their allocation, are shown below :
Table 30 : Comparison of budget allocations for the Faculty of Management Studies and Science
Faculty 28% of allocation 100% of allocation Actual Management
studies 326 1153 326
Science 87 312 376
If the objective of purchasing journals is largely to support the research activity of the University, then it is clear that the formula is dysfunctional, as it does not give adequate weighting to the differing costs of journals in the various fields, or to the research outputs of the faculties. (Walker 2003 : 9)
5.4.7 Summary of the analysis of journal data
The journal cost data indicates that from 2002 to 2004 the average price of a print journal increased substantially each year for various reasons. Print journals increased much more than electronic journals. Although the Library only subscribed to 30 electronic titles, the results have indicated that the average cost of an electronic journal is lower than that of print.
Even though the Library has decreased or cancelled its print journal subscription each year, the average cost per title has increased each year. Apart from the dramatic change in costs in 2004, the Library is subscribing to fewer print journals but is paying more each year for journals. The difference in cost from 2003 to 2004 for Geography print journals was very low.
The subscription costs of Geography journals are much lower than journals bought by Chemistry and Physics. All Schools except Chemistry and Physics were able to cancel as well as reinstate some subscriptions and subscribe to new titles and still keep the difference to about 33 percent and under the difference paid in the period 2002 to 2003.
2002 was an exceptional year for the Library journal budget. With the increased exchange rates and the collapse of a major publishing vendor Rowecom/Faxon, the Library had to pay huge differences in journal subscriptions from 2002 to 2003.
5.5 Interview responses of Acting University Librarian - Ms Nora