Chinanews Finance, April 19 (Reporter Song Yusheng) CNKI has become a hot search again, this time because of "price increases".

Weibo screenshot

Shut down HowNet due to price increases?

　　The cause of this incident was the news that "Chinese Academy of Sciences has suspended the CNKI database due to the overwhelmed renewal fee of nearly 10 million yuan", which has recently been circulated on social media.

　　Red Star News reported that the suspected "Documentation and Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences" issued a notice on April 8, saying, "In 2021, the total subscription cost of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Group China Knowledge Network database has reached the level of tens of millions, and the high subscription cost has become a medium for the introduction of resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Group. The 'Big Mac'."

Image source: Red Star News

　　China Securities Journal, Red Star News and other media verified that the suspension of the CNKI database by the Chinese Academy of Sciences was true; however, CNKI responded to Sino-Singapore Jingwei that the above news was "not true".

　　In any case, the reason why this matter has attracted attention is closely related to the price increase behavior of HowNet in the past.

In addition, Zhao Dexin, a retired professor who sued CNKI last year and received more than 700,000 compensation, made the problem between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and CNKI even more striking.

　　The game between universities and HowNet has a long history.

　　It was reported last year that during the 10 years from 2012 to 2021, at least 6 colleges and universities issued announcements to suspend the use of CNKI.

　　These include Nanjing Normal University, Wuhan University of Technology, Peking University and other universities.

The reasons for deactivating HowNet are all related to the increase in renewal prices.

　　For example, in 2016, Wuhan University of Technology "due to the outrageous price increase in renewal prices" announced the suspension of HowNet.

In the same year, the official website of Peking University also posted a notice that CNKI would be discontinued, on the grounds that “database providers have raised prices too high.”

Price cut or price increase?

　　It is worth noting that just after the CNKI infringement case attracted widespread attention at the end of 2021, CNKI lowered the download price of master and doctoral dissertations.

Among them, the download price of each master's dissertation has been reduced from 15 yuan to 7.5 yuan, a decrease of 50%; the download price of each doctoral dissertation has been reduced from 25 yuan to 9.5 yuan, a 62% decrease.

HowNet screenshot

　　The price has just been cut, and the media has exposed the price increase.

Are there any contradictions in it?

　　In fact, the vast majority of college teachers and students do not directly "buy" papers from CNKI, but universities and research institutes pay the package library subscription fee to CNKI for teachers and students to use.

　　A number of teachers and students from different colleges and universities confirmed to reporters that the package library subscription fee paid to CNKI by their colleges "increases almost every year."

　　The reporter checked the transaction announcements of the CNKI database of universities and scientific research institutes through the China Government Procurement Network.

There is a big difference in their prices.

For example, Wuhan University of Technology, which had previously announced the suspension of CNKI, spent 1,278,500 yuan on the HowNet database this year; Beijing Language and Culture University only had 654,500 yuan; Tsinghua University spent 1,880,300 yuan.

Screenshot from China Government Procurement Network

How does CNKI raise prices?

　　That is to say, although CNKI has lowered the download unit price of master and doctoral dissertations, there is no information to confirm that the package library fees of universities and research institutes have also decreased.

　　"Journal of Tsinghua University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition)" published an article this year titled "Ten Discussions on CNKI and the Included Journals and Their Author Relations: From Professor Zhao Dexin v. CNKI Infringement Case", in which HowNet's "sales model" was disclosed.

　　The article writes that universities and scientific research institutions basically purchase the CNKI-related databases needed by their units in the form of packages. Individual scholars do not need to pay for downloading CNKI documents from the intranets of the campus network and other units (because the unit has already paid for it). ).

　　The article also stated that the package library is the main method of sales, but the total download volume of each package library user in that year will undoubtedly become the basis for the price negotiation between CNKI and the package library users in the next year.

　　That is to say, the rise or fall of the package library subscription fee paid by universities and research institutes is related to the total download volume of package library users in that year.

　　In addition, we should also see that CNKI has indeed formed its "advantage" because it has almost collected domestic academic literature.

On the one hand, this has changed the way of using and disseminating academic literature to some extent; on the other hand, such "advantage" will of course become an important factor in its bargaining.

　　But the question is, how far can CNKI go by relying on the repeated price increases of academic literature?

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