RE: BioMedCentral Revised Institutional Membership Model

[Phil Davis <pmd8@cornell.edu>]

Dear Jan,

Thank you for the clarification of BMC's newly revised pricing model.  
One more clarifying question: I am assuming that you mean number of
*research articles* when you talk about counting an institution's
published articles.  Last year, Cornell first-authors published 3 research
articles, but also, 1 poster, 1 commentary, 1 opinion, 1 short
communication, and 2 editorials.  In addition, the poster session was
published in a BMC journal that requires subscription.  This group of
other publishable objects are not peer reviewed or edited in the same way
as research articles.  I am assuming that these objects will not be
counted as articles.  It would be difficult to convince our researchers
that they have to pay $525 -- $1500 to send a letter to the editor.

--Phil Davis

____

From: BioMed Central <institutions@biomedcentral.com>
To: Phil Davies <pmd8@cornell.edu>
Subject: New BioMed Central membership pricing for 2005 renewals
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 16:32:24 -0000

Dear Phil Davies,

I am writing to inform you about future changes to our pricing model for
BioMed Central Institutional Membership which will commence from January
2005 for all members renewing their membership. All institutions joining
BioMed Central for the first time will, for the first year of membership,
continue to be charged a flat-fee based on the total number of graduate
and postgraduate students and faculty members in the life sciences and
medicine.

New Pricing for all 2005 Renewal members:

The base article processing charge of US$525* multiplied by the number of
articles published in BioMed Central journals during the previous 12
months. Please note that this is the number of articles published by a
submitting author affiliated to the member institution. BioMed Central
only charges once per article, irrespective of the number of authors, to
the (institute of the) submitting author (if authored by several authors
from different institutes, to the institute of the submitting author
only).

The membership threshold renewal price is three times the base article
processing charge of US$525 i.e. US$1575. This fee will apply to anyone
who publishes 3 papers or less during the previous 12 months and wishes to
renew.

Example:-

At University of Anywhere, 10 articles were submitted to BioMed Centrals
journals, and 5 of them accepted and published during the last 12 months
of their membership.

Price Quotation for Membership Fee for next 12 months:
US$525 X 5 = US$2625

*the base article processing charge of US$525 is subject to currency
fluctuations and other factors, and therefore may change.

Benefits of BioMed Central Membership:

    * All researchers and faculty within an institution are able to submit
any of their research papers to BioMed Centrals journals. They will be
automatically recognised as a member and will not be asked for payment
information at that point, so simplifying the process for them.

    * Membership fees will be calculated on a base article processing
charge of $525 regardless of which journals their articles are published
in**. Members will not be charged higher fees if they have published in
journals which normally carry higher article processing charges.

    * A 15% discount on all institutional subscriptions to any
subscription product that BioMed Central publishes, such as Faculty of
1000, Genome Biology and images.MD

    * Each member institution has a customized members page

**The majority of our journals charge a flat fee of US$525 for each 
accepted manuscript. The exceptions are shown below.

Journal Name

URL APC
Genome Biology <http://genomebiology.com>http://genomebiology.com $1000
BMC Biology 
<http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcbiol/>http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcbiol/ 
$1000
BMC Medicine 
<http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcmed/>http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcmed/ 
$1000
Journal of Biology <http://www.jbiol.com>http://www.jbiol.com $1500 from 
July 1st 2004

Reasons for changing our pricing model for renewing members:

This new pricing model allows us to base the membership fee on the level
of service we provide. As I am sure you can appreciate, we need to build a
sustainable business model so that we can continue to provide a service of
publishing research efficiently and to a high standard in our Open Access
research journals. Our experience has led us to believe our new pricing
model is a fair model to put into place.

If you have any questions about our new pricing model and how it may
affect your price quotation for next year please contact your sales
representative (below).

Best wishes
Natasha Robshaw
Head of Marketing and Sales
BioMed Central
<http://www.biomedcentral.com>www.biomedcentral.com

Your Sales Representatives Contact Information:
Americas & Spain
Mark Bevan
Tel: +44 (0)20 7631 9947
Email: <mailto:mark.bevan@biomedcentral.com>mark.bevan@biomedcentral.com
Western Europe, Asia & Australasia
Marianne Josserand
Tel: +44 (0)20 7631 9990
Email: <mailto:marianne@biomedcentral.com>marianne@biomedcentral.com
Central & Eastern Europe, S. East & Southern US
Silvia Serra
Tel: +44 (0)20 7631 9971
Email: <mailto:silvia@biomedcentral.com%20>silvia@biomedcentral.com