Publishers defend cost increases

Academic publishers have defended their practices after a survey found that charges paid by national consortia of research institutions have increased by an average of 3.6 per cent in the past year.

On 7 February, the European University Association reported the annual cost increases passed on to 31 consortia in 30 European countries by five major publishers in 2018. It said that these ranged between 3.3 and 4.7 per cent.

Lidia Borrell-Damián, the EUA’s director for research and innovation, told Research Europe that these increases were “too high” and that institutions’ budgets were “too stretched”.