STM Journal Market 'Not Working Well'

The market for scientific, technical and medical journals in the U.K. is problematic, according to a report commissioned by the Office of Fair Trading in the wake of the merger between Reed Elsevier and Harcourt.

The OFT report highlighted concerns about price disparity between the commercial and noncommercial STM markets. University presses and scholarly societies are charging significantly less for their publications and making less profit than their commercial counterparts.

Industry sources are reluctant to lay the blame solely on the commercial giants, but instead pointed to the mismatch between research output and library funding. John Vickers, director general of Fair Trading, said, "The market has a number of features that suggest that competition may not be working effectively. However, market forces harnessing new technology may change this without the need for intervention." The Internet has proved a powerful and democratic tool in the dissemination of academic research.

Other criticisms of the market included excessive levels of profitability and the practice of bundling selections of journals to prevent competitive titles from entering the market. The OFT has drawn the line at setting up a full investigation of the workings of the STM market, but if the situation fails to improve, action may be considered on an international scale.