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The industry today Publishing in the knowledge economy Figure 5.11 Book publishing turnover as % of GDP, one of the indicators used for ranking 0.5% 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 Denmark Germany Spain Italy Sweden Source EU Commission, Competitiveness of the European Publishing Industries Figure 5.12 Book titles published per million population UK EU average EU average Denmark Germany Greece Spain France Ireland Italy Luxembourg Netherlands Austria Portugal Finland Sweden UK 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 Source EU Commission, Competitiveness of the European Publishing Industries 5.7 International comparisons A major report produced for the European Commission in 1999, which explored comparative competitiveness in the publishing industries across the EU, found that the lack of data on a national basis was compounded when it came to trying to make comparisons across borders. The indices the authors selected (for want of any better in many cases) were: • Titles per million population (we have already discussed whether this is a strength or a weakness, above) • Turnover as % of GDP • Trade balance (again, problems with this one) • Turnover growth rate On the basis of a weighted consideration of all these factors, the UK was ranked in the top group, along with Denmark, Germany, Spain, Italy and Sweden. 35
Publishing in the knowledge economy The industry today CHAPTER 6 Journal publishing 6.1 Revenues and costs Very little authoritative data is available on the revenues or costs of journal publishers. The Publishers Association and the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) have commissioned a number of surveys, which are referred to here, but these have been hampered by high non-response rates, especially on the part of the largest publishers. The surveys, carried out in 2000 and 2001 for the PA and ALPSP by TFPL, found that there was little overlap between the respondents in both years, so they took the decision to combine the data together, which is shown below in table 6.1. Some data was published by the Competition Commission in its report on the Reed-Elsevier/Harcourt merger in 2001, which is also drawn on in this section. Data from the Publishers’ Association shows a healthy growth in worldwide revenues to UKbased publishers (Figure 6.1). The data from the surveys carried out by TFPL for ALPSP and the PA shows the extreme ranges of annual sales and number of titles produced (Table 6.2). Sales data includes revenue from subscriptions, licences, advertising and any other source generated directly by publication of the titles. It also shows how internationalised the journal market is, with total sales being far in excess of UK sales. The survey also shows the importance of electronic journals: 91 out of 169 publishers together produced over 1940 titles electronically. In 1999, the number of titles (based on 63 out of 96 respondents) was 1200. 58 of the respondents publish all their journals in electronic form (Table 6.3). Typical revenue and costs for an STM and humanities/social science journal were supplied to the Competition Commission by Journal Publishing, but with the caveat that these vary very widely from journal to journal, depending on circulation (scale economies), subject matter and ability to attract advertising. This shows some significant differences between STM and humanities/social science. Figure 6.1 Journal revenues, £m Revenues received by UK publishers from worldwide subscriptions to their UK-based journals (excluding advertising, licensing, etc) 500 400 300 200 100 1997 Source Publishers Association 1998 1999 Table 6.1 Journal publishing indicators, 1999-2000, based on 169 respondents Total sales, £m 554.3 Median turnover, £ 205,968 Range of annual sales Minimum, £ 1,800 Maximum, £m 111.9 Number of titles produced Total 2769 Median per publisher 3 Range 1-650 Table 6.2 UK sales, based on 167 publishers Total UK sales, £m 190.6 Median turnover, £ 70,000 Range of annual UK sales Minimum, £ 200 Maximum, £m 67 Source TFPL for ALPSP and PA Table 6.3 Electronic journal publishing No. of publishers producing electronic journals 91 No. of titles produced electronically 1940 Source TFPL for ALPSP and PA 36
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