Re: Clarification on misquotation of figure from OSI Guide

["Sally Morris \(ALPSP\)" <chief-exec@alpsp.org>]

We have to be careful not to confuse revenue per article (which is what 
these figures from Blackwell and Nature represent) and cost per article. 

The cost will, of course, vary widely - some publishers' processes may be
more efficient than others', though I doubt the difference is vast;  some
do more work on articles than others;  some add more features to their
journals over and above primary research articles;  some process many more
articles per published article than others (Nature is an extreme example).  
There are various attempts to analyse these costs, some already published
and others ongoing.  Some of these studies include overheads, others
don't, which also leads to confusion;  but overheads cannot be ignored
when looking at the costs which have to be recovered through one model or
another.

The difference between the costs and the revenue is the profit (politely
called surplus in the case of not-for-profit - more accurately described
as non-profit-distributing - publishers).  Some of this is reinvested into
the business - again, the amount reinvested varies, but the infrastructure
for e-journals takes up a significant percentage, as last Monday's
transcript reveals;  some of it (in the case of commercial publishers) is
paid in tax;  and some is redistributed to shareholders (for commercial
publishers) or used in support of the charitable purpose of the
organisation (in the case of NFPs - hence the tax exemption).

Let's be sure we are comparing apples with apples!

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

----- Original Message ----
From: David Prosser
Sent: Friday, March 05, 2004 3:40 PM
Subject: RE: Clarification on misquotation of figure from OSI Guide

For those who find this discussion rather abstract, the (uncorrected)  
transcript of the first evidence session of the UK Science and Technology
Committee into scientific publishing gives us some hard facts:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmsctech/uc399=
-i/uc39902.htm

In answer to the question (No. 35) 'what is the cost to you of publishing
an article, and what is the price you charge for that article?' Bob
Campbell tells us that Blackwell receive =A31250 in revenue per article.  
That includes all print and online costs, profit to Blackwell (of about
15%), and royalties to societies (where the societies own the journals).  
Richard Charkin answers that the figures are 'more of less' the same for
the Nature Publishing Group journals (with the exception of Nature
itself).

David C Prosser PhD
Director, SPARC Europe
E-mail:  david.prosser@bodley.ox.ac.uk