“What should I do for my studies even though it is illegal? Otherwise, I can't continue doing my studies, or I might beg my friends to find out.” PNU student A (Ph.D. in College of Engineering, 17) who conducts his environmental studies at a research laboratory of a different engineering college is having a hard time. This is because Pusan National University (PNU) library has stopped subscribing to the journal. PNU students use illegal websites that distribute academic journals for free or they have to ask their acquaintances at universities in the metropolitan area, where much more academic journals are available.

According to PNU library data on February 2nd, the number of academic journals (serial publications) that PNU libraries are subscribed, to support research, have been steadily decreasing over the last five years. In 2017, the number of serials that were subscribed by PNU was 1,375. It decreased to 1,364 in 2018, 1,217 in 2019, 807 in 2020, and 525 in 2021. What happened at PNU Foreign Research Information Center is similar. This center had 436 foreign journal subscriptions in 2017, but has unsubscribed 70% over the past seven years: 408 in 2019, 312 in 2020, 268 in 2021, 238 in 2022, and now 127 in 2023. 

PNU library claims that it has increased the supply of electronic data, instead of paper journals with low utilization rates. In accounting, the subscription rate to domestic and foreign academic journals and magazines used by libraries to purchase academic journals fell to 608,292,000 won in 2018, 611,812,000 won in 2019, 598,060,000 won in 2020, and 445,000,000 won in 2021. Not only was it down 75 percent from three years ago, but it also marked a sharp decline, reaching 145,000,000 won in 2022.

Instead, the budget used to purchase academic DBs and electronic journals increased to 1,247,310,000 won in 2018, 1,292,446,000 won in 2019, 2,698,050,000 won in 2020, 1,962,633,000 won in 2021, and 2,262,633,000 won in 2022. A library official said, "The tendency of using reference is shifting to electronic data. We are focusing our allocated budget and resources on building electronic data."

However, it was found that the increase in the purchase cost of electronic journals and academic DB, which are categorized by electronic data, is not enough to compensate for the decrease in the purchase cost of paper journals. Although the budget used to purchase academic journals was turned to buying electronic data, the number of academic DBs subscribed did not increase, resulting in 80 types in 2019, 85 types in 2020, 86 types in 2021, and 84 types in 2022. The number of electronic journals subscribed was 41,669 in 2018, 54,683 in 2019, 61,061 in 2020, and 93,473 in 2021, which is far short from enough, if you consider that we had 114,960 subscriptions in 2017. Graduate student B (School of Mechanical Engineering) complained of inconvenience and said, "It is difficult to refer to the existing Elsevier's journal when researching in the lab because it is not open." The slogan of PNU "Research-Oriented University" is overshadowed. 

There is also an analysis that this situation is due to the rise in the exchange rates and subscription fees. This is because the majority of academic journals are foreign publications, so they are directly affected by the flucuations in the exchange rate. An official from the Foreign Research Information Center said, "Due to the nature of professional journals, subscription fees are expensive, so if the exchange rate rises, it is inevitable to stop subscribing." He continued, adding, “The exchange rate rose to 1,480 won last October. If the exchange rate stabilizes beyond this year, many of the journals that were unsubscribed will resume subscription.”

Reporter Jun Hyung-Seo

Translated by Lim Chae-Kyung