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Pricing of scientific journals and market power

Author

Listed:
  • Mathias Dewatripont
  • Victor Ginsburgh
  • Patrick Legros
  • Alexis Walckiers

Abstract

We analyze the empirical relationship between journal prices, their quality measured by their citation counts, their age, as well as conduct of publishers. The database covers 22 scientific fields and over 2600 among the most highly reputed and cited journals in 2003. We show that (a) for-profit journals charge roughly 3 times more than journals run by scientific societies; (b) the number of citations has a positive impact on prices; (c) there are large differences in prices across fields that vary from 1 and 6; these are highly (and positively) correlated with the degree of concentration in the industry.
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Suggested Citation

  • Mathias Dewatripont & Victor Ginsburgh & Patrick Legros & Alexis Walckiers, 2007. "Pricing of scientific journals and market power," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/9637, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/9637
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Theodore C. Bergstrom, 2001. "Free Labour for Costly Journals?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 183-198, Fall.
    2. Mark McCabe, 2004. "Information goods and endogenous pricing strategies: the case of academic journals," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 12(10), pages 1-11.
    3. Mark J. McCabe, 2002. "Journal Pricing and Mergers: A Portfolio Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 259-269, March.
    4. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:12:y:2004:i:10:p:1-11 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Mathias Dewatripont & Victor Ginsburgh & Patrick Legros & Alexis Walckiers & Jean-Pierre Devroey & Marianne Dujardin & Françoise Vandooren & Pierre Dubois & Jérôme Foncel & Marc Ivaldi & Marie-Dominiq, 2006. "Study on the economic and technical evolution of the scientific publication markets in Europe," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/9545, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. Michael Mabe & Mayur Amin, 2001. "Growth dynamics of scholarly and scientific journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 51(1), pages 147-162, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Victor Ginsburgh, 2013. "Mark Blaug and the economics of the arts," Chapters, in: Marcel Boumans & Matthias Klaes (ed.), Mark Blaug: Rebel with Many Causes, chapter 15, pages 208-224, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Milan Frederik Klus & Alexander Dilger, 2020. "Success factors of academic journals in the digital age," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 13(3), pages 1115-1143, November.
    3. repec:hal:cepnwp:hal-00971541 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. William H. Walters, 2022. "Can differences in publisher size account for the relatively low prices of the journals available to master’s universities through commercial publishers’ databases? The importance of price discriminat," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(2), pages 1065-1097, February.
    5. repec:hal:journl:hal-00971541 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Damien Besancenot & Radu Vranceanu, 2017. "A model of scholarly publishing with hybrid academic journals," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 82(1), pages 131-150, January.
    7. Yuqing Zheng & Harry M. Kaiser, 2016. "Submission Demand In Core Economics Journals: A Panel Study," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(2), pages 1319-1338, April.
    8. Oliver Budzinski & Thomas Grebel & Jens Wolling & Xijie Zhang, 2020. "Drivers of article processing charges in open access," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(3), pages 2185-2206, September.
    9. Campbell, James D., 2015. "Ownership and pricing of information: A model and application to open access," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 29-42.
    10. Yuqing Zheng & Harry M. Kaiser, 2012. "Price Discrimination in the Subscription Market for Economics Journals," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 79(2), pages 464-480, October.
    11. Mark Armstrong, 2010. "Collection Sales: Good Or Bad For Journals?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 48(1), pages 163-176, January.
    12. Sumiko Asai, 2020. "Market power of publishers in setting article processing charges for open access journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(2), pages 1037-1049, May.
    13. Sumiko Asai, 2023. "Does double dipping occur? The case of Wiley’s hybrid journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(9), pages 5159-5168, September.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D49 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Other
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
    • Z00 - Other Special Topics - - General - - - General

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