RE: selling e-articles

["Powers, John" <jpowers@endo-society.org>]

Indeed there is a long list of publishers of research journals 
and many others who provide a variety of PPV (pay-per-view) 
models (BTD, or "by the drink", as you say). Mostly they are of 
the single article type, but it is not unheard of to see models 
that offer unlimited access for a limited time, say for 1 day, or 
3 days, or even 1 week, depending upon the publisher and their 
journals.

At The Endocrine Society (our journals are Endocrine Reviews, 
Endocrinology, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 
Molecular Endocrinology), we offer single-issue access and 
reprints for an "average" fee - $16. We have looked at the entire 
range of fees being charged for this kind of access; on the High 
Wire Press journals, that range goes from $5 to $52 for access to 
one article for 1 24-hr period. As mentioned, there are many 
other varieties of PPV models as well, but I think every 
publisher who can make use of an additional revenue stream (that 
would be most of us) offers this kind of service.

This does allow those researchers and readers who only need an 
occasional drink (i.e. access to single articles) to satisfy 
their needs with a simple credit card transaction.

John Powers
Product Manager, Publications
The Endocrine Society
Chevy Chase, MD 20815-5817
phone: 301-941-0242, fax 301-951-0259
e-mail: jpowers@Endo-Society.org