arithmetic, Re: PLoS New Fee Structure

[David Goodman <dgoodman@Princeton.EDU>]

The posting cannot mean:

> The new prices compare favorably with the fees that authors 
> often pay to publish their work in traditional journals 
> (between $1000-$3000 ..).

because it is not true that $2500 is less than an average of 
$1000-$3000.

Further, since most publishers, including the largest ones, ask 
no publication charge at all, and a few who do charge, have the 
fee less than $1000, the range should have been given as 
$0-$3000. The use of "often" makes a valid quantitative 
comparison impossible unless a more exact average were taken, 
corrected for at least the type and length of the article, and 
the subject field of the journal.

Perhaps the posting meant that non-commercial OA journals are 
slightly less expensive than commercial OA or OA Choice 
publishers-- $2500 is less than e.g, Springer's $3000. Regardless 
of significance, that at least has the arithmetic correct.

I do not mean to imply that publishing an article OA in a PLoS 
journal is not worth the $2500. I think it certainly is, and that 
they do not need to use evasive language and dubious numbers to 
make their case.

Dr. David Goodman
Associate Professor
Palmer School of Library and Information Science
Long Island University
and formerly
Princeton University Library

dgoodman@liu.edu

----- Original Message -----
From: Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>
Date: Thursday, June 15, 2006 6:56 pm
Subject: PLoS New Fee Structure
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu

> Of possible interest to readers of this list.
> ________________________________________________________
>
> PLoS Publishing Model
> Transforming the Landscape
>
> http://www.plos.org/journals/model.html
>
> To provide OA, PLoS journals use a business model in which our
> expenses - including those of peer review, of journal production,
> and of online hosting and archiving - are recovered in part
> through a publication fee to the authors or research sponsors for
> each article they publish. Now, with 3 years of operational
> experience to draw on, it is time for PLoS to adjust this model
> so that our publication fees reflect more closely the costs of
> publication. From 1st July 2006, the publication fee for our
> flagship journals PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine will be $2500;
> for our community journals PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS
> Genetics, and PLoS Pathogens it will be $2000. PLoS Clinical
> Trials is priced at $2500.
>
> The new prices compare favorably with the fees that authors often
> pay to publish their work in traditional journals (between
> $1000-$3000 for color charges, excess pages, reprints etc). And,
> in such journals, distribution is not unlimited as it is for
> PLoS, but is restricted to subscribers and those whose
> institutions have paid license fees.
>
> The value that authors obtain from our publication fees includes:
> unlimited space so that scientists can tell their story in full;
> unlimited access so that anyone interested in the work can read
> it; and unlimited use so that researchers can build most
> effectively on the achievements of others.
>
> A "no questions asked" fee waiver exists for authors who do not
> have funds to cover publication fees. In addition, editors and
> reviewers have no access to authors' payment information, and
> hence inability to pay will not influence the decision to publish
> a paper. These policies ensure that the fee is never a barrier to
> publication.
>
> Our aim is to develop a sustainable open access publishing
> operation. We will continue to exploit new technology to improve
> the cost-efficiency of our publishing process and, as a non
> profit organization, we will ensure that any future increases in
> the publication fees will be as reasonable as possible.
>
> ####