Counting the dollars: developing a method to estimate campus-wide spend on article processing charges
Thursday October 14, 2021
From 3:30pm to 4:00pm
As they adapt their business models to Open Access (OA), journal publishers are offering discounts on OA article processing charges (APCs) – or waive them altogether – in addition to read-access to journals. As more library consortia enter these “transformative” agreements, libraries must consider the value that these discounts bring in their local context.
As they adapt their business models to Open Access (OA), journal publishers are offering discounts on OA article processing charges (APCs) – or waive them altogether – in addition to read-access to journals. As more library consortia enter these “transformative” agreements, libraries must consider the value that these discounts bring in their local context. While some universities may have a centralised approach to administering APC payments, track payments made by authors, or do both – some universities do not. This presentation will showcase a method to estimate the total cost of APC spend by authors at a university campus where there is no centralised approach to collecting this information. Access to, and availability of, suitable bibliographic data and pricing information are barriers in developing estimates and will be discussed. The presentation will also speak to how estimates of APC spend can be used by libraries to rationalise collection development decisions.
