[Coral-List] More on open access

[Richard Dunne]

Coral Listers

Further to the overall debate on Open Access and journal fees, it is 
noteworthy that the journal PLos Biology (mentioned in the previous 
post) charges authors US dollars 2,750 for publishing an article in this 
Open Access publication. It also admits that this is not the full cost 
of publication which has to be supplemented from philanthropic support.

Herewith some informative passages from the PLos website:

Why should I have to pay to publish my paper?
It costs money to produce a peer-reviewed, edited, and formatted article 
that is ready for online publication, and to host it on a server that is 
accessible around the clock. Prior to that, a public or private funding 
agency has already paid a great deal more money for the research to be 
undertaken in the interest of the public. This real cost of "producing" 
a paper can be calculated by dividing your laboratory's annual budget by 
the number of papers published. We ask that—as a small part of the cost 
of doing the research—the author, institution, or funding agency pays a 
fee, to help cover the actual cost of the essential final step, the 
publication. (As it stands, authors now often pay for publication in the 
form of page or color charges.) Many funding agencies now support this view.

More than US$2000 is a lot to pay to publish an article, isn't it?
Not when you consider the cost of the research that led to the article. 
Publication fees of $2000 or $2500 are a small fraction of the costs of 
doing research, and it makes sense for funding agencies to include these 
fees in research grants. Many funding agencies now support this view. 
They recognize that publishing is an integral part of the research 
process - and if the work is published OA it will deliver the maximum 
possible impact, which in turn maximizes the outcome of the funder's 
investment in research.

Ultimately, the fees that PLoS charge reflect the costs associated with 
publishing. We are not in this to make a profit - our bottom line is to 
make the literature a public resource. The administration of peer 
review, copy editing, production of high-quality tagged electronic 
files, web hosting, and so on are expensive processes. They are many of 
the same processes that are used in traditional subscription journals. 
If the money that currently supports subscription journals can be 
re-routed to cover publication fees then we will be able to support open 
access publishing in a fully sustainable way.

I recommend reading the full page at: 
http://www.plos.org/about/faq.html#pubquest

It seems that the cost differences between commercial publishers and the 
new Open Access publishers are not so very different. Compare the US 
dollars 3,000 for Open Choice in a Springer journal to the PLos Biology 
US dollars 2,750. Also PLos Biology does not produce a printed copy. As 
the article in the previous post points out, there are  different 
interpretations of what constitutes "Open Access"; but as far as I can 
see the essential element of free access to read and download the 
article is common throughout, and this must surely be the most important 
aspect as far as an author and funding agency would wish.

Finally it is worth remembering that many of the commercial journals 
currently allow authors to publish entirely free of charge. Their papers 
will still be read by very many in the research community, even without 
the payment of an Open Access fee. This is not an option with journals 
that carry page charges or a have a mandatory Open Access policy. True, 
in the case of PLos Biology they say "We offer a complete or partial fee 
waiver for authors who do not have funds to cover publication fees." but 
it is unclear who or what constitutes an author who does not have funds. 
Presumably one cannot simply claim poverty because you chose to spend 
all your research funding before you made publication.

Clearly we still have a long way to go, but perhaps in the meantime we 
are simply experiencing the classical (and healthy) freedom of choice 
which exists in any market based structured economy. Ultimately market 
forces determine who will be the winners and the losers.

regards
 

Richard P Dunne

West Briscoe, Baldersdale, Barnard Castle, Co Durham, DL12 9UP. UK
Tel +44 1833 650059



François Michonneau wrote:
> Hello
>
> If you are interested to learn what "open access" really means and how 
> some publishers use this term inappropriately, I suggest you read the 
> following article:
>
> When Is Open Access Not Open Access?
> MacCallum CJ
> PLoS Biology Vol. 5, No. 10, e285 doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050285
>
> http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050285
>
> Cheers
>
> François
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> François Michonneau, Ph.D. Student
>    FLMNH (Division of Malacology) & Department of Zoology
>      University of Florida -- Gainesville, FL 32611-7800
>    fmichon at flmnh.ufl.edu - (352).273.1823
>    http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/malacology/michonneau.htm
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