Journal Price Survey (1994-2009)

This survey is meant to help mathematicians and librarians become informed consumers of mathematics journals. The focus is on cost, not on mathematical quality, and the survey does not differentiate between general and specialty journals.

The survey can be downloaded in PDF format or as an Excel spreadsheet in order to work with the data, sorting and arranging information as needed. An example of how one may do this can be found at

http://www.mathematik.uni-bielefeld.de/~rehmann/BIB/AMS/Publisher.html

Users are cautioned, however, against drawing fine distinctions based solely on this data. The number of characters per page varies considerably between journals; the number of pages in a given year occasionally will include front and back matter; the subscription price occasionally will fail to include mandatory postage charges.

We are not able to gather data from many sources, each in a different format, with absolute precision. Here are some comments about the methodology used in compiling this information:

• Prices not reported in US dollars have been converted to USD within the yearly USD Price column based on currency rates at the end of the preceding calendar year.
• Prices have been rounded up to the nearest whole currency value.
• Institutional subscription charges are reported as offered to North American subscribers.
• Mandatory shipping and handling charges are included in the price when recognized.
• Last page in a volume is considered the final page with actual text, whether a research paper, news or book reviews.
• Normally, we ignore blank pages and backmatter such as author information, indexes and title pages for binding, whether numbered, unnumbered, or numbered separately.

The Survey has been updated with complete information through 2008 and with prices only for 2009.

Download Survey:  Excel spreadsheet | PDF document