What does it cost? Journal package pricing for VCU

VCU Libraries is committed to providing our scholarly community with access to materials critical for research and teaching. We want to ensure that our spending commitments align with community needs, that we are responsible stewards of our budget in a rapidly evolving information landscape, and that we contain and control costs wherever possible. In order to do this, we are assembling, evaluating, and sharing some important data about cost, usage, and growth trends for our biggest journal vendor contracts. This will help us assess whether large journal packages, often called “Big Deals”, provide good value and represent a sustainable part of our overall investment in information on behalf of the University.

In the first of several steps to promote openness about our spending, we are releasing the following information, outlining the costs and usage of several large journal packages, which together represent 30.35%, totaling $3,833,271 in fiscal year 2019 of our collections budget. We expect to release more detailed information, including title-level data, on a regular basis.

For more information on this initiative, read our FAQ.

If you have further questions or need more information, please contact Karen Cary at kcary@vcu.edu

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Package: Elsevier ScienceDirect Freedom Collection

Year	No. of journals	Cost	Rate of increase	Increase (actual)	% Collections budget	Title Usage Profile
2016	3,079	$1,668,164.94	4.30%	$69,269.80	14.74%	No use: 270 1-11 uses: 899 12-51 uses: 626 52+ uses: 1,284
2017	3,199	$1,718,560.11	3.02%	$50,395.17	14.34%	No use: 244 1-11 uses: 876 12-51 uses: 720 52+ uses: 1,359
2018	3,289	$1,820,040.24	2.32%	$61,547.25	14.52%	No use: 269 1-11 uses: 892 12-51 uses: 757 52+ uses: 1,371
2019	3,352	$1,822,960.12	3.67%	$64,467.13	14.57%	No use: 293 1-11 uses: 886 12-51 uses: 748 52+ uses: 1,425
2025 (est.)	n/a	$2,302,931.54	4.30%	$615,462.11 (cumulative over the decade)	15.60%	n/a

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Package: Sage Premier

Year	No. of journals	Cost	Rate of increase	Increase (actual)	% Collections budget	Title Usage Profile
2016	867	$222,750.00	N/A Start of Package	N/A Start of Package	1.97%	No use: 19 1-11 uses: 199 12-51 uses: 281 52+ uses: 368
2017	1,001	$268,068.00	20.34%	$45,318.00	2.24%	No use: 45 1-11 uses: 278 12-51 uses: 302 52+ uses: 376
2018	1,077	$290,512.69	8.37%	$22,444.69	2.40%	No use: 27 1-11 uses: 322 12-51 uses: 346 52+ uses: 382
2019	1,124	$308,106.18	6.06%	$17,593.49	2.46%	No use: 0 1-11 uses: 285 12-51 uses: 365 52+ uses: 474
2025 (est.)	n/a	$437,054.50	6.00%	$189,565.57 (cumulative over the decade)	2.96%	n/a

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Package: SpringerLink Journals

Year	No. of journals	Cost	Rate of increase	Increase (actual)	% Collections budget	Title Usage Profile
2016	3,363	$633,351.89	7.00%	$42,760.86	5.60%	No use: 1,119 1-11 uses: 992 12-51 uses: 748 52+ uses: 504
2017	3,557	$749,515.62	17.39%	$110,163.73	6.20%	No use: 1,078 1-11 uses: 1,218 12-51 uses: 648 52+ uses: 613
2018	3,349	$776,451.54	4.43%	$32,935.92	6.41%	No use: 758 1-11 uses: 1,250 12-51 uses: 715 52+ uses: 626
2019	3,038	$848,405.04	9.27%	$71,953.5	6.78%	No use: 272 1-11 uses: 1,296 12-51 uses: 809 52+ uses: 661
2025 (est.)	n/a	$1,021,757.26	4.00%	$391,867.87 (cumulative over the decade)	6.92%	n/a

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Package: Wiley Online Library

Year	No. of journals	Cost	Rate of increase	Increase (actual)	% Collections budget	Title Usage Profile
2016	2,606	$883,352.00	N/A Start of Package	N/A Start of Package	7.81%	No use: 709 1-11 uses: 670 12-51 uses: 588 52+ uses: 639
2017	2,602	$914,269.00	3.50%	$30,917.00	7.63%	No use: 692 1-11 uses: 599 12-51 uses: 579 52+ uses: 732
2018	2,602	$946,268.00	3.50%	$31,999.00	7.82%	No use: 617 1-11 uses: 604 12-51 uses: 607 52+ uses: 774
2019	1,919	$910,215.00	-3.81%	-$-36,053.00	7.27%	No use: 0 1-11 uses: 182 12-51 uses: 179 52+ uses: 1,558
2025 (est.)	n/a	$1,116,350.48	4.00%	$190,061.92 (cumulative over the decade)	7.56%	n/a