Relative impact of print and database products on database producer expenses and income—Trends for database producer organizations based on a thirteen year financial analysis

摘要

A 13-year analysis of the finances of a major database producer organization, which is also a publisher of abstracting and indexing (A&I) products, indicates trends regarding the impact that both printed products and database products† have on the financial status of the organization. The question of “migration” (from printed to online database products) and the fact that expenses have increased more than income are discussed as they relate to the survival or growth of database organizations. Since the database has gone online, there have been significant increases in the database revenue (online royalties), connect hours, and numbers of online users; at the same time, there have been decreases in the number of database leases and licences, the number of print product subscriptions, and the excess of income over expenses. In constant dollars, the cost of producing an abstract has decreased, the subscription charge for printed products has increased only slightly, the lease and license fees have decreased, royalty charges have increased, and hourly connect fees have remained steady (even though the size of the online file has increased greatly). The problem is that of maintaining a balanced financial status in light of increased income from one class of products, decreased income from another class of products, and increased cost of operation.Income, expenses, excess of income over expenses, and prices have been plotted in both real and constant dollars. The product a user gets for his money, including database quality and growth, are discussed in relation to cost. Possible approaches to ensure economic viability are considered in terms of expenses, efficiency of operation, marketing, products, services, and pricing. The most promising approaches lie in the areas of pricing and development of new products and services. The possibility of developing a consortium of database producers for offering online services is proposed. There appears to be no alternative to increasing the prices for online users. Data provided relates to one database producing organization, but the trends are considered to be representative of numerous A&I databases.