Annex 5
OPEN ACCESS
PROCESSING CHARGES
AND THE
COST OF
PUBLICATION
A set pattern of processing charges for publication
in open access journals has yet to emerge. The two most prominent
open access publishers are BioMed Central (www.biomedcentral.com)
and the Public Library of Science (www.plos.org). BioMed Central
publishes just over 100 journals, and currently charges $500 (+
VAT) per article published, although they have announced that
they will be charging three times as much for some titles that
they intend to launch later this year. They have nearly 400 institutional
members in 32 countries. Researchers from member institutions
have the right to publish an unlimited number of research articles
in journals published by BioMed Central without paying any article
processing charges. To date BioMed Central has published 5,000
articles. Recent statements from BMC suggest that the operation
has yet to break even, despite several years of publishing using
an open access business model. The Public Library of Science has
so far launched one journal, PLoS Biology, which charges $1,500
per article published, with a printed version available on subscription.
Neither BMC nor PLoS make charges for submissions.
There have been a number of attempts objectively
to quantify the first copy costs associated with publishing a
journal article. Odlyzko and Tenopir and King estimated an average
first copy cost per article published of $4,000. A recent study
by John Cox Associates estimated the first copy cost per article
as $3,500. The SPARC Consulting Group, in their Guide to Business
Planning for Launching a New Open Access Journal prepared for
the Open Society Institute, project a first copy cost per article
published of $3,750, assuming no submission charges.
Clearly there is a gap to be bridged if these
estimates are correct. Furthermore, if processing costs are waived
from authors without the ability to pay (from developing world
countries for example), and if the rejection rate from peer review
approaches that of established journals of high prestige, then
the cost per article published that must be levied on those with
the ability to pay must rise significantly. If the extra funding
required cannot be raised from charges to authors, then advertising,
sponsorship or donations must compensate. But with a shortfall
of $2,000-$3,000 per article published, given the number of articles
published each year (1.4 million), the sum to be made up in this
way could run into $billions, each year. We submit that open access
publishing still has some way to go before it can show that its
economic models are either sustainable or scalable.
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