Why are academic Journals so expensive?
Essentially because they are a highly specialised product with a limited readership and a complex and expensive production process. It would be unfair, for example, to compare the price of a popular glossy magazine with a readership in the tens of thousands with a specialist journal with a lengthy and expensive peer review process and subscriber numbers in the hundreds, as is the case with most tourism journals. That is not to say that we shouldn’t be concerned about the price. There is no doubt that some academic journals are priced way above what they should be and prices of all journals do prove a barrier for access for many. This needs to be addressed. We already offer, for example, reduced rate individual subscriptions, and we allow libraries in some countries to access our journals free of charge, whilst others are permitted to subscribe at the individual rate. We have also just opened up all online issues up to and including 2003 volumes to open access via: www.channelviewpublic
