- Scholars and researchers both create and consume scholarly information; scholars and researchers add the true value to scholarly communication yet they are not in control of the system
- Scholarly communication has become an international, multi-billion dollar business; the current journal market is not economically sustainable
- Ongoing consolidation in the publishing industry has squeezed out competition and increased prices
- Rapidly escalating journal prices have led to libraries providing access to an increasingly smaller portion of the published literature
- The 123 members of the Association for Research Libraries collectively spend more than $800M on journal subscriptions annually. The Johns Hopkins Libraries alone spend over $8M annually.
- From 1986-2008, the average journal subscription price increased 7.3% annually resulting in a cumulative increase of 374%, while the Consumer Price Index cumulatively increased just 101% over that same period.
- Stakeholders in the scholarly communications process must create and support competitive alternatives to the present profit-oriented system
- Intellectual property rights must stay with authors and universities; authors must negotiate to retain certain rights, e.g., the right to post their work on their own websites, distribute copies to their classes, or deposit work in a university or public repository
- The costs of scholarly communication must be brought into a reasonable relationship to value
The Johns Hopkins Libraries are currently engaging faculty from across the university to develop strategies to address these critical issues. Please explore this site for more information about initiatives underway at Johns Hopkins.