Collection sales: good or bad for journals?

Armstrong, Mark (2008): Collection sales: good or bad for journals?

Abstract

This note discusses the impact of collection sales (i.e., the bundling of several journals for sale by publishers to libraries) on journals. The advent of electronic journal distribution implies that bundling is an efficient sales strategy, and can act to extend the reach of a journal. Current arrangements are discussed and shown to lead to tensions between commercial publishers and non-profit journals. The note argues that non-profit journals should not abandon their participation in collection sales programmes. Rather, non-profit journals may benefit from withdrawing from commercial publishers which distribute their own for-profit journals, and from joining together to be distributed by less commercial publishers who set relatively low prices for their collections.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Journal pricing; bundling; price discrimination
• Subjects: L - Industrial Organization > L0 - General; L - Industrial Organization > L8 - Industry Studies: Services > L82 - Entertainment ; Media; L - Industrial Organization > L4 - Antitrust Issues and Policies > L42 - Vertical Restraints ; Resale Price Maintenance ; Quantity Discounts