RE: Clarification on misquotation of figure from OSI Guide

["David Prosser" <david.prosser@bodley.ox.ac.uk>]

Sally

I'm afraid that I don't understand your first sentence.  What I do know is
that the guide authors did not want to mislead readers and that is why
they described the figure as a 'hypothetical example', a 'sample author
fee projection' and a 'simple illustration'

They did not describe the figure as an 'estimate of the average cost of
publishing a paper across all journals' or even as a 'figure for a single
journal'.  Unfortunately it is being quoted as such and that is why there
was felt to be a need to issue a clarification.

Nobody at OSI, SPARC or SPARC Europe is 'backing off' from the figure in
the business guide for the simple reason that none of us every put it
forward as an example of the real costs of publishing a paper!

Our rational approach to costs would be to agree with you that (as you
have pointed on other occasions) there are a wide range of estimates of
the costs associated with the publication of an article.  It is important
that these costs are examined carefully, but throwing a hypothetical
example into the mix does nothing to clarify the issues.

Best wishes

David C Prosser PhD
Director
SPARC Europe

E-mail:	david.prosser@bodley.ox.ac.uk
Tel:	+44 (0) 1865 284 451
Mobile:	+44 (0) 7974 673 888
http://www.sparceurope.org


-----Original Message-----
Sent: 04 March 2004 09:50
To: alpsp-discuss@mailbase.org.uk; Liblicense; SOAF
Cc: Richard Johnson; Melissa Hagemann
Subject: Re: Clarification on misquotation of figure from OSI Guide

Sorry for triple posting but this discussion seems to be going on in all
three arenas..

Hmm - Oxford Dictionary:

Heuristic:  serving to discover

I cannot imagine that the authors plucked a figure out of the air
believing it to be misleading.  Surely OSI/SPARC aren't backing off this
figure simply because publishers agree with them?  ;-)

Until this discussion started, they had gone up considerably in many
publishers' eyes for having taken a much more rational approach to costs
than had some other OA enthusiasts;  it would be a pity to undermine this
perception now.

Sally Morris, Chief Executive
Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers
E-mail:  chief-exec@alpsp.org