Skip to Main Content
Big Deals
- What it is
- Libraries and publishers have for some time engaged in Big Deals whereby libraries get access to most of a publisher's journal title list in return for agreeing to set inflationary terms in multi-year agreements.
- The terms are generally based on a list of subscribed titles that the library had with that publisher at the time of the agreement plus a much reduced fee to get access to the rest of the publisher's journals.
- Libraries are selective in utilizing Big Deals publisher packages. The publisher packages must include a high proportion of high impact-high use journal titles.
- UNM has Big Deals with: Elsevier, Wiley, Springer, Taylor & Francis, Oxford, and Sage.
- What it does
- It has been a way to get access to large numbers of journal titles at a lower cost than list price.
- Often the Big Deal terms do not allow cancellations, so when library budgets decrease libraries often have to cancel other resources that are not in Big Deals.
- National discussion
- Most publishers that offer Big Deals rarely provide fair "compensation" to institutions for the research their faculty publish in their journals nor do they give fair credit for articles published as Open Access articles by the institution's faculty and researchers.
- Depending on institutional budget, research output and level of commitment to Open Access publishing, libraries have been re-evaluating their big Deals and many have canceled these packages.
- SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) is monitoring cancellations through their Big Deal Cancellation Tracking guide.
- Alternatives to the Big Deal
- Cancel packages and return to title by title subscriptions to most highly used content
- Increase reliance on open access content, interlibrary loan, and pay-per-view services
