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Institutional pricing

Who thought it’d be so complicated to secure a suitable scheme for institutions.

Initially we had intended for institutions to estimate the number of likely users and this has had two unforeseen consequences:

  • Those purchasing the license are uncomfortable guessing. It requires extra work and a bit of guesswork, which leads to the second point…
  • What if they’re wrong – are there consequences?

So, between them it doesn’t work!

The next method I explored was by size of organisation but is that an accurate way to assess size?  Some publishers use full-time equivalent staff while others use full-time equivalent users!  The latter is to ensure students are counted in a universities ‘head count’ – otherwise the majority of users could be unpaying students!

The current favourite is based on the PsychInfo method which is slightly more complex but more flexible.  How we’re planning to adopt it is to have four main types of organisations:

  1. Universities
  2. Hospitals/health centres
  3. Government/public sector
  4. Corporations

Each of these will be divided into 3-4 sizes e.g. very small, small, medium and large.

This approach should be familiar with those involved in purchasing so hopefully it’ll be less problematic.  But what I am keen to stress is, if in doubt, get in touch and discuss AND negotiate..!

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Ten days in and things to do

It’s been a successful launch of the new version of the site.  We’ve had lots of sign-ups to the Premium version and that includes a number of institutions – so, so far so good.  Fortunately, we’ve had no ill-feeling expressed around the move to Freemium, I imagine most users understand the reasons.  We have had lots of feedback which has started a mini-development cycle.  So, things that we’re planning on doing in the near future include:

  • Improved export meta-data. Currently we only include basic data such as title, publication and year.  We’re now planning to extend that to include authors, volume, issue, page numbers and abstract.
  • OpenAthens.  We’re still exploring this but it looks like it’s a route that we need to go down.  The only hesitation is the cost!
  • Institutional pricing.  Even though we planned it and spoke to a number of people I think the way we’ve packaged institutional subscriptions is overly complex and off-putting.  So, we’re working hard to simplify this and we aim to roll out a new approach in the very near future.

If there are any other improvements you’d like to see, feel free to email me: jon.brassey@tripdatabase.com

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The New Trip Database

The new version of the Trip Database is live and to help celebrate we’ve produced a beautiful infographic.

While to many the new site will not look massively different there have been some huge changes.  Perhaps the biggest has been the adoption of the Freemium business model.  What was previously freely available at Trip remains, largely, free but for those who want an enhanced service there is a Premium (paid for) service.  We have adopted this model based on the absolute need for financial security. 

So, what do those purchasing the Premium model get?

More content

  • Approximately an extra 100,000 systematic reviews (including systematic review type content such as HTAs), more than double available via the free Trip.
  • Millions of free full-text articles
  • Ongoing clinical trials database of over 175,000 clinical trials
  • Access to a large medical image database
  • Tens of thousands of clinical videos

More functionality

  • Export of records to reference management software
  • The ability to easily exclude certain content types (e.g. eTextbooks)
  • Trip educational credits
  • Article views, see which articles are most popular for your search

Other things

Another new feature is moving to a more secure site with a new password system (this is for both free and premium users).  This will require users to renew their login/password details but it’s a one-off – so hopefully not too traumatic.

Finally, and mentioned above, is the new Trip Evidence Service. Run by experienced and skilled information experts the Trip Evidence Service can provide various services: formal literature searches, horizon scanning and evidence reviews. Given the varied staff skills the service can also offer bespoke information services.

So, why delay, click here to upgrade to the new Premium Trip today (click here).  NOTE: Institutional subscriptions are available,

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