(20 Sep 2023) cOAlition S commissioned Information Power to explore how a globally fair pricing framework for academic publishing could be devised and implemented. The key objective of this project was to identify ways in which readers and producers of scholarly publications or their proxies – research funders and universities – can financially contribute to supporting academic publishing services in a globally equitable and sustainable manner.
The Information Power team have developed a fairer global pricing framework and tool, based on open and transparent data, that can be used across the spectrum of publishing business models. Information Power emphasizes the need for close dialogue between stakeholders and careful use of the tool to ensure the framework is deployed in ways that work well for customers and advance equity. If applied by publishers without dialogue, transparency, and in alignment with shared principles, then differential pricing can be – and has been – wielded as a blunt instrument to do ill.
How can this framework be used in practice? In a nutshell:
- To ensure equity from the beginning, publishers can use the framework for new services.
- To improve equity, publishers might want to shift existing services to this new framework. A tool is available to help publishers explore the most suitable banding and model the impact on different customers.
- Exchange rate fluctuations can be a barrier to equity in some countries. Publishers could help customers by converting prices once a year into local currencies. These local prices would be fixed for 12 months. A tool is available to help publishers model the impact of this.
The press release in full is here.
