Institutional Subscription for AEA Journals: New Pricing Structure
Begins January 1, 2022
The pricing structure for subscriptions to the American Economic Association’s journals underwent a significant change starting January 1, 2022. The AEA has moved to a two-tier pricing structure for digital subscriptions with price increases phased in from 2022 to 2024. This two-tier pricing structure is based on our findings that R1-designated universities download significantly more articles than others.
- Tier 1 pricing will apply to organizations identified as R1 universities by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, as well as international universities included in the top 200 of the Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities.
- Tier 2 pricing will apply to all other institutions.
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | ||||
| Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 1 | Tier 2 | |
| Digital Subscription 1 2 | $1,700 | $980 | $2,500 | $1,120 | $3,400 | $1,250 |
| Digital and Print 1 | $2,060 | $1,340 | $2,900 | $1,520 | $3,800 | $1,650 |
| Print Only | $700 | $700 | $700 | $700 | $700 | $700 |
| Postage outside the US (for Print) | $150 | $150 | $150 | $150 | $150 | $150 |
1 Digital subscriptions are limited to use within a single campus. Branch campuses must purchase separate subscriptions unless they are located within six miles of the main campus.
2 Digital-only subscriptions must be purchased directly from the AEA.
Institutional subscriptions to the AEA journals remain relatively inexpensive compared to those offered by publishers of other top tier journals in economics. The AEA remains committed to maintaining low prices for its journals, and will continue to subsidize its rising publication costs, but these changes will bring subscription revenues somewhat closer to these costs going forward.
For more details, see the letter sent to subscribers on June 23, 2021.