Board of Directors Meeting April 24, 2008 >>

Carscallen

APR 22/08

SUBSCRIPTIONS REPORT FOR YEAR END 2007

Subscription numbers at the end of December/07

• 372 for print and print + online
• 35 for online only

While this does not seem like a large increase from last year, in that the figures at this time last year were 369 for print/print+online and 35-40 for online only, in fact there were 29 new print/print+online subscriptions during 2007 and 7 new online only subscriptions. This does not take into account subscribers who switched from print or print+online to online only.

(In April/08 these numbers are now 376 for print and print+online and 50 for online only. So far there are 13 new print/print+online subscribers (already half the number of last year) and 1 new online only subscriber) What the numbers demonstrate is that there is always flux – we lose some subscribers, mostly students, we gain some, and some migrate to online only. I consider the subscriptions numbers to be quite positive (currently 376+50=426 This is 16 more than a year ago.)

Growth in Print/Print+Online Subscriptions for 2007 – unlike last year where most of our growth was from foreign subscribers, in 2007 most of our new print/print+online subscribers were Canadian. A few of the Canadian individual subscribers are people who were subscribers in the past, but not in 2006.

• Canadian Students 7; Individuals 12; Institutions 2;
• Foreign Students 1; Individuals 2 (lndia); Institutions 5 (2 India, 1 S. Korea, 1 Malawi)

There is a steady increase in Cdn & US institutions adding online to existing print subscriptions and an increase in institutions switching to online.

Growth in Online Subscriptions for 2007 (8) – half were Cdn students and individuals and half were foreign individuals and institutions. I have not accounted for subscribers who have switched to online only, but there has been an increase from both individuals and institutions.

Free Subscriptions - There are 45 free subscriptions. These include subscriptions to staff Editors Emeritii, Legal Deposits (Nat’l Library-2, Library of Congress), Canada Post, SSHRC, Journal Exchanges, Abstractors/Indexers, Institutions in Developing Nations.

Large number of single issue copy sales in 2007 – (Compare to 2006: 23 to contributors 8 sales to others)

2007:

• 6 to contributors of V32;
• 14 various, including 10 of V27 #4, but excluding V32 #3-#4
• 13 copies of V32 33-#4 sold by Kim at Launch + 1 copy of V31 #4 Sexualties (payments for these not accounted for in y/e figures)
• 19 copies of V32 #3-#4 sold around the time of the mass mailing in Nov (more ordered in 2008 and some payments pending) ie approximately 32 single issue copies of V32 33-#4 alone have been sold

CJC V32 #3-#4 Communicating Health :

The single issue copies of this issue sold outside subscriptions were mostly purchased by health science libraries, university and government institutions for health research, policy and information, provincial and local public health departments, provincial medical associations, etc.

In addition to the healthy single issue sales of this issue, V32 33-#4 has been steadily selling single copies subsequently and has also resulted in:

• the sale of an individual online subscription
• the sale of an institutional online subscription to a Canadian pharmaceutical library
• request for copy of a single paper of this issue from
• request from Cdn Medical Assoc Library for permission to extend the use of the online portion of  their existing print+online subscription to the staff at their other offices across Canada.
• the sale of a few copies of V31 #4 Sexualities that was cross marketed at the same time as the health issue.

Subscription Rates:

CJC rates were held at the 2006 level for 2007. In spite of the fact that our subscriptions revenue was close to that of 2006, we felt the impact of the rising Cdn$ with a decline in revenue from foreign exchange (all US and International subscribers pay in US$). Fortunately most of the foreign subscriptions were paid before the fall, when the Cdn$ was at its highest. However, CJC institutional rates have been increased for 2008 to take into account the high CDN$. The rates for students and individuals have not been increased. (The bulk of our foreign subscribers are institutions.)

Anne Carscallen Subscriptions Manager Canadian Journal of Communication