American Chemical Society announces new value-based pricing for journals

WASHINGTON, March 27 -- The Publications Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) today announced new electronic journal pricing policies for the 2008 subscription year. These new subscription models were developed in consultation with customers and reflect a tradition of publishing innovation, excellence and value. The models are based on four main pillars:  establishing fairness, encouraging participation and use, minimizing disruption, and broadening access.

Robert D. Bovenschulte, President of ACS Publications, commented: "We are extremely proud of the exceptional value ACS journals have long provided to our customers. With this new pricing model, ACS has responded to customer requests for a new approach that makes sense in today's online world. It allows us to treat customers equitably within each group, encourage usage of our journal content, offer flexibility to help customers migrate with a minimum of disruption, and provide a strategy for the future to continue broadening worldwide access."

To account for unique characteristics within different customer groups, customized pricing plans built upon feedback from subscribers were established for four major library types<domestic academic, international academic, corporate, and government. Each plan assigns customers to specific tiers using objective, relevant criteria, to ensure that like customers pay like amounts for their subscriptions. During the spring and summer of 2007, ACS will be contacting customers to review the new plan and work with them to ensure a smooth transition.

A unique component of the new model is the way it de-couples the prices of the print and electronic versions of each journal. The model will utilize value-based metrics such as number of articles published, ISI® impact factor, and total downloads to establish prices for the electronic versions of each ACS journal. By incorporating these factors, the significant advantages gained by ACS subscribers<including low prices per page, per use, and per citation<will be better reflected in the subscription rate of each publication. Another advantage of separating electronic and print prices is that customers will be able to eliminate duplicate print subscriptions from their collections.

Susan Cardinal, Chemistry Librarian at Carlson Science and Engineering Library at the University of Rochester, commented: "I'm glad that ACS will be separating the print pricing from the electronic pricing. The tiered pricing acknowledges differences in library budgets. Thanks for listening to us!"

The American Chemical Society -- the world's largest scientific society -- is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

The ACS Publications Division currently publishes 35 leading peer-reviewed journals in the chemical and related sciences (ACS journals rank first in citations and/or ISI® impact factor in seven ISI® core chemistry categories -- as well as in seven additional ISI® categories ranging from agriculture to polymer science, including the new category of nanoscience and nanotechnology), including the Journal of the American Chemical Society, as well as Chemical & Engineering News, the Society's weekly news magazine.

(Note:  A web site providing additional information is located at http://pubs.acs.org/valuebasedpricing.)

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Adam Chesler
Assistant Director, Library Relations and Customer Service
American Chemical Society
1155 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036

Office Telephone:  (202) 872-6183
Mobile Telephone:  (617) 230-3201
Fax:  (202) 872-6005
E-Mail:  a_chesler@acs.org

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