Cost issue

[Joseph Esposito <espositoj@gmail.com>]

What happens when the number of author-pays open access sites 
grows and these various services have to compete with one another 
to get the finest articles deposited in their respositories? 
What will the cost of marketing to attract the best authors be? 
I am not myself aware of any financial modeling that attempts to 
grapple with an environment where there are not a handful of such 
services but 200, 400, more.

As these services develop and authors seek the best one, what new 
investments will be necessary in such areas as information 
technology?

Will the fixed costs of managing such a service rise along with 
greater demands by the most significant authors?

As more services proliferate, what will the cost of submitting 
material on an author-pays basis be?  Will the need to attract 
the best authors drive prices down? If prices are driven down, is 
there any way for such a service to operate profitably as the 
costs of marketing and technology grow without attempting to 
increase in volume what is lost in margin?

If such services must increase their volume, will there be 
inexorable pressure to lower some of the review standards in 
order to solicit more papers?  What is the proper balance between 
the right fee for authors, the level of editorial scrutiny, and 
the overall scope of the service, as measured by the number of 
articles developed?

Joe Esposito