There has been a sharp increase in the subscription prices of many

B it is...This option provides enough reason for us to believe that since the subscription from individuals were declining due to various reasons, the same was compensated by charging more from libraries since Library will have to take original and not photocopies.

There has been a sharp increase in the subscription prices of many professional and scholarly journals in the past seven years. Many publishers ascribe the necessity for these increases to the easy availability of photocopying facilities, which enable people simply to copy the articles they want rather than buying the journal.

Which of the following, if it is true, would make this explanation more plausible?

A) The great majority of professional and scholarly journals have a massive backlog of papers awaiting publication.

B) Over the past five years there has been a substantial decline in the number of individual subscriptions to professional and scholarly journals, while library subscriptions have remained fairly stable.

C) In the five years immediately preceding the price surge, there was a substantial decline in the number of individual subscriptions to professional and scholarly journals, while library subscriptions remained fairly stable.

D) Many libraries have recently begun cutting back on subscriptions to professional and scholarly journals.

E) In almost every field, several new professional and scholarly journals have begun publication in the past few years.

IMO:- B

We need to explain why there has been sharp increase in prices over past 7 years.

I came down to option B & C

Option C says that 5 years immediately preceding the price surge........... But we are not bothered about preceding 5 years. We are more or less about continuous price inflation past 7 years

Option B says that In past 5 years, people are not buying individual copies but thru libraries. This scenario indicates that to minimize the loss, prices have been inflated continously.

Experts plz validate the reaoning

I am getting C
What is the difference between B and C, the latter mentions " Preceding 5 years " the former does not do so.
isn't it more logical that the decline in the number of individual subscriptions to professional and scholarly journals, were followed by the price increase rather than the decline happened at any arbitrary period.

IMO C
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B) Over the past five years there has been a substantial decline in the number of individual subscriptions to professional and scholarly journals, while library subscriptions have remained fairly stable.

C) In the five years immediately preceding the price surge, there was a substantial decline in the number of individual subscriptions to professional and scholarly journals, while library subscriptions remained fairly stable.


Between B and C , C is better because it talks about time when the price surge happened and the behaviour of the customers around it. B talks about past 5 years. We do not get anything about price surge during last seven years.This may be due to something else. C is more clear

Clearly C

If we choose B the decline can be readily attributed to the price hike and not to the increase in practice of photocopying, because B talks about the time period that has witnessed the price hike.
Example:
.......$10.....2007[Price Hike - $20]........2009........2014(present)

Assume currently we are in 2014. price was hiked on 2007. B talks about 2009-2014. We can undoubtedly blame the price hike for decline.

C points to the time period that is more likely to have not witnessed the price hike. In that case the the cause of decline can be attributed to the decline in # of individual subscriptions.
Continued E.g. : C talks about time till 2008 end. Blaming the photocopying practice is more likely to be valid in this case than the 2 years of overlap in price hike years.
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Great question.It is between B and C. Answer is C because it is more clear.

I chose C but I dont know why C makes sense anw, especially the part "while library subscriptions remained fairly stable."

C is better because it talks about time when the price surge happened and the behaviour of the customers around it. B talks about past 5 years. We do not get anything about price surge during last seven years.This may be due to something else. C is more clear

here is my take on this ..
question basically says :
sharp increase in the price of many professional and scholarly journals in the past seven year.
Probable reason : the number of individual subscriptions has gone down because of the availability of photocopying facilities, which enable people simply to copy the articles they want rather than buying the journal.
A. Massive backlog of papers : not my problem. Maximum or minimum doesn't affects my price.
B. This is after or during the price rise .so how does it affects my question stem .. it does nothing.
C. Gives us the scenario why the price rose . good .. keep it
D. Not related to my conclusion
E. Again does nothing. No correlation .
Answer C

why would the prices surge after the decline in subscriptions?

can someone provide detailed explanation to each of these options? I narrowed down to B&C but after a while but did not understand the difference between these.