Re: Open Access to Research Is Inevitable, Libraries Are Told

["Anthony Watkinson" <anthony.watkinson@btinternet.com>]

OK - what I meant was that no publisher of large or medium-sized 
biomedical journals that I know of (and that includes most larger 
and medium sized not-for -profits as well as commercial 
companies) use OJS and they do not figure as a serious 
alternative in the main treatment of online editorial systems by 
Mark Ware. I used the formulation which Professor Guedon loves 
because I myself have not done the comparisons of functionality 
and sustainability - which he may not have done either. What I do 
know is that people responsible in publishing houses of all sorts 
look into these sort of cost considerations very carefully 
(because I know the people). I am also wondering whether he means 
SciElLO and not SciELO: I cannot get into that site at present so 
I cannot see what they actually do.

What an inaccurate statement about honoraria and "power systems". 
Publishers pay sometimes honoraria because the top scholars they 
want as editors can earn a lot, particularly in clinical areas, 
and they (the editors) cannot afford the time involved in being a 
good editor without at least some decent recompense for their 
time. All decent Publishers want the best editors for the 
journals they publish whoever their stakeholders and whatever 
their business models.

Anthony Watkinson

----- Original Message -----
From: <jean.claude.guedon@umontreal.ca>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 11:49 PM
Subject: Re: Open Access to Research Is Inevitable, Libraries Are Told

> We will leave aside the editors' honoraria about which, 
> incidentally, very little is known publicly, but is obviously a 
> good way for publishers to create a power system with elite 
> scientists.
>
> I have no idea about the internal argument used at Elsevier or 
> elsewhere to justify paying for online editorial system, etc. 
> but I am sure it is not to increase costs, or, if it does 
> increase costs, there are other factors weighing in. Companies, 
> by the way, are obsessed about costs onlyto the extent that it 
> affects profits, and this over a certain time horizon.
>
> I also love the phrase "it is my understanding that"... and 
> then an assertion without proof. Let us go back to ciELO once 
> more - sorry to be repetitive - as this organization publishes 
> mainly scientific journals, many of which in the biomedical 
> field. I guess OJS is good enough for them. Si it ought to be 
> good enough for many other people as well, especially if they 
> try to save costs.
>
> Jean-Claude Guedon