Re: PLoS Financial Analysis

["Joseph Esposito" <espositoj@gmail.com>]

The primary exception to Sally's comment would be OA journals 
that charge for author submissions, not author publications. 
With the Internet in its Web 2.0 incarnation, the line between 
submission and publication continues to narrow.  I have been 
waiting for arXiv to introduce this policy (as it should).

Joe Esposito

On 6/26/06, Sally Morris (ALPSP) <sally.morris@alpsp.org> wrote:
>
> I've always had a feeling that the finances of an OA journal are less
> likely
> to improve over time than those of a subscription/license journal.
>
> Of course, both have launch costs (market research, recruitment of
> editor/editorial board and early papers, marketing (in the true sense -
> making sure the journal is visible in and linked to and from all the right
> places:  A&I indexes, citations in other journals, etc)).  But revenue for
> an author-side payment OA journal can never increase more steeply than
> (direct) costs, as both are driven by the number of papers - aside, that
> is,
> from ahead-of-inflation price increases.   Revenue for a
> subscription/license journal can and should grow steadily (ideally, ahead
> of
> costs) for years as the number of subscribers/licenses grows - price
> increases ahead of inflation (or, at least, inflation plus growth in
> extent)
> are these days totally unacceptable to customers.  The key is for
> purchasers
> to increase more rapidly than articles.
>
> Or have I missed something here?
>
> Sally
>
>
> Sally Morris, Chief Executive
> Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers
> South House, The Street, Clapham, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 3UU, UK
>