Get the Most Bang for Your Buck: How to Optimize Your Research Subscription ROI

Cost per usage is a common metric for corporations to evaluate subscription value. Dividing subscription cost by usage, a quantifiable indicator for content relevance and internal interest, seems reasonable. However, relying solely on this usage-based metric to determine return on investment (ROI) might oversimplify the true value of high-quality research content.

First, this usage-based approach overlooks the research breakthroughs or business success made possible by high quality research. Sometimes a single research article may power an R&D breakthrough that can generate billions of dollars for a business. In other cases, a journal article may be cited in a patent application, highlighting the crucial role research plays in innovation.

Second, barrier-free access to high-quality research content can significantly reduce costs and increase efficiency by eliminating activities such as interlibrary loans, searching different resources for content, and vetting the content. A 2007 study on corporate, government, and medical libraries found that the average time saved for researchers was 9 hours per library visit/interaction.¹ Reducing administrative burdens associated with content management and copyright compliance can lead to further efficiencies and cost savings.

To delve deeper, download a study of corporate ROI in scientific content. To further unlock the full potential of your subscription, we encourage you to leverage our dedicated customer success team, who will provide comprehensive support and training programs to assist you with account and administrative setup, onboarding, maximizing access and usage, customized new research alerts, internal content promotions, and usage statistics.

References

1. Lown, C. and Davis, H. Are You Worth It? What Return on Investment Can and Can’t Tell You About Your Library. In the Library with the Lead Pipe 2009. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org