RE: PLoS pricing and the perceived ability of research grants to cover publication costs

["Kwan, Julie" <jkkwan@library.ucla.edu>]

I think it is inevitable that granting agencies will include costs for
publications -- and that there will be a limit on that. I would suspect
that this might even cap the amount that an author would/might pay.

I think a more likely alternative (to the suggestion that an at-risk
journal would hike up costs)is that the truly prestigious commercial
journals will be able to get exorbitant author fees. Much of the other
material is likely to go with a new model such as open access. We have
already had marginal journals up their subscription costs and eventually
lose their readership.

Frankly, the statement "...publishers will have a strong incentive to keep
pushing up fees, since author-generated fees will be their primary source
of funds to cover costs..." doesn't really say anything new.  Look at the
similarity between that sentence and the following "...publishers will
have a strong incentive to keep pushing up [subscription costs], since
[library subscriptions] will be their primary source of funds to cover
costs..."

I think we are in a turbulent time that will result in an inevitable
change in how research is published. Publication of research results is a
part of the research process; it is not a separate function.

Julie Kwan
Pacific Southwest Regional Medical Library