Determining Value
Building a great research collection across many discilplines requires discussion, discernment, and experience. The process involves ongoing communication between the Library and our faculty and users, and no single criterion determines the outcome of these discussions — both qualitative and quantitative criteria are carefully considered.
At times we find quantitative measures enlightening, including use, impact factors, and price.
Use
- Journal Data - Price, Impact, and Use
Compiled by CDL, this website provides by-title information on price, impact and UC-wide use of those titles included in consortial packages negotiated by CDL. - E-Journal Usage
This site was created and is maintained by staff of the UC Berkeley Library. It reports use by title for packages where this information is known to us. - Collection Management Initiative (CMI) Final Report
This report documents the strong interest expressed by UC scholars for ubiquitous access to electronic resources.
Impact Factors
- ISI Journal Citation Reports
Citation data drawn from over 8,400 scholarly and technical journals including specialties in the areas of science, technology, and the social sciences.
Price
- The Promise of Value-based Journal Prices and Negotiation: A UC Report and View Forward (PDF)
Prepared by a task force of the ten-campus library system's Collection Development Committee, a direct outcome of the UC libraries' collective strategic priority to advance economically balanced and sustainable scholarly communication systems. The report details UC's rationale for value-based journal prices and modeling of prices for scholarly materials that are reasonable, transparent, and based upon the value of the material to the academic mission of the University of California. - Journal Price Effectiveness, Preston McAfee and Ted Bergstrom.
A website that reports price per article and price per citation for about 5000 academic journals. - Choosing Sides — Periodical Price Survey 2005, Lee C. Van Orsdel and Kathleen Born — April 15, 2005.
- Big Chill on the Big Deal, Orsdel and Born. Library Journal, April 2003.
This article describes price increases by general subject area, as well as by place of publication for serials from 1999 - 2003. Tables also exist for the average cost of serials titles by discipline. These rates were used in projecting costs at UCB, and for allocating cuts to individual funds. - Ulrich's Periodicals Directory
A database providing information on serials published throughout the world. It covers all subjects, and can be used to look up current journal prices for specific titles or to find titles by subject. - U.S. Periodical Prices — 2002, by Barbara Albee and Brenda Dingley. American Libraries, May 2001.
This article reports a 7.9% average increase in serials prices projected for 2002 based on publishers list prices of 3,919 titles in a vareity of disciplines. Includes tables by subject category. - The Rise and Rise of Journal Subscription Prices in African Studies, by Hans Zell, published in the Africana Libraries Newsletter No. 111, June/September 2003 (PDF).
An analysis of subscription rates in 1989, 1997, and 2002/03 for 13 leading African studies journals and two bibliographic tools published in English. Rates of increase between 1997 and 2002-2003 range from 10% per year to 100% per year.
