Serials pricing and the role of the electronic journal

The rapid escalation of serials prices is a serious threat to the system of scientific and scholarly communication. The growth of science, the increase in commercial publishing, and the inherent monopolies enjoyed by journals help account for this problem. Changes in academic reward structures and cooperative action by librarians, individual scientists and scholars, scholarly societies, and university presses are needed. The electronic journal may have a powerful role to play in combating serials inflation if its evolution is shaped thoughtfully and by the right hands.