Methodological evaluation identifies cost-effectiveness metrics for academic journals, suggesting citation-to-cost ratios optimize library subscription decisions.
The rapid increase in the prices of physics journals has forced many physics libraries, in the face of static budgets, to cancel some of their subscriptions. Decisions on cancellations are usually based on the research interests of the users of the library, but the decision-making process can be improved if a quantitative measure of the cost-effectiveness of the journals is available. An often-used measure is the cost per printed character; another is the frequency with which articles in the journal are cited, often referred to as the “impact.” The ratio of these two measures is perhaps the best indicator of a journal's cost-effectiveness.
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H. H. Barschall (1988) studied this question.
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