From the article:
“Currently, about 100 new peer-reviewed journals get started each year, primarily by larger commercial publishers. Over the last couple of decades, consortia deals have stabilized revenue for many larger publishers while requiring relatively little effort to maintain. About half the publishers in the ALPSP survey negotiate deals with consortia. Financial necessity is changing the landscape for most of their subscriber base, and these publishers stand to lose significant revenue if they can’t close reasonably favorable contracts with their biggest customers. LexisNexis is an early case in point. In response to an appeal from SOLINET in January 2009, it agreed to waive its annual 2.5% annual increase, representing about $400,000 in total savings to consortia members. Some will ask if that is the kind of concession ICOLC was looking for when it asked publishers to offer real price cuts—LexisNexis reported an estimated profit of $735 million in 2008, an 18% increase over the prior year.”