Electronic journals acquired by Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México: cost benefit analysis

Abstract

A cost-benefit analysis is made about e-journals subscribed by the National University of Mexico (UNAM) considering the statistical reports as well as the subscription costs. Downloaded articles and subscription costs from six different publishers (American Chemical Society, Emerald, Elsevier, Nature, Springer and Wiley) are analyzed for the 2005-2006 period. Data is analyzed considering both the subscription type (print plus electronic or only electronic) and use level (high, low or null). In order to calculate the cost-benefit of the collections the Lancaster’s model on acquisition cost is used. In general, the e-journals subscribed with the six publishers mentioned above results beneficial for UNAM. Three of the collections are highly beneficial since they show high levels of use. Two of them show some titles with low or null use generating a deficit in the subscription cost and finally, one collection reflects that a 95% of their titles were poorly used. The authors consider that some initiatives must be analyzed in order to improve the use of this particular collection.