Life Has Its Ups and Downs

Abstract

Lower levels of support and high levels of need make journal cancellations to counter rice inflation as much a problem in ihe humanities as in other areas. Targeting more expensi;e titles for cancellation assumes a stability in relative price levels over time that may not exist. Prices of core journals in the humanities were sampled at five-year intervals from 1977 to 1997, and relatively expensive and inexpensive titles identified by deviation from disciplinary means. Titles found relatively high or low at one point rarely remained so over time. The long-term effect of cutting journals by targeting more expensive titles may be no more effective in reducing the budget than more user-oriented approaches. Changes in subscription figures did not appear to affect prices. Core humanities journals were found more expensive than other titles in their disciplines, but subject to lower rates of inflation.