Publisher pricing policies and the reprographic copyright controversy

A survey of scholarly and research journals by Fry and White published in 1976 resulted in a searching study of price changes and publishing economics generally. This paper will note such comments as bear upon differential pricing for institutions and individuals. A shift among US subscribers from individual to institutional subscriptions (as a percentage of total sales) was remarked upon for all except a group of publishers described as ‘Other not‐for‐profit’, the main categories being Commercial, Society, and University Press. These ‘Other not‐for‐profit’ journals ‘cost least of publisher groups’ and ‘may be more affordable by individuals’. The general growth in institutional compared with individual subscribers was to be expected ‘as increased prices forced individuals to drop their own subscriptions and rely on copies available through the library’.