Re: Springer Open Choice uptake affects 2011 journal pricing

["\"FrederickFriend\"" <ucylfjf@ucl.ac.uk>]

Jan's message introduces an element into the OA publication 
charge / subscription relationship which contains an inherent 
difficulty from a university management or library perspective, 
viz. that publishers may recoup the cost of lost subscriptions 
through not returning to the academic community savings due to 
the double-payment of subscriptions and OA publication charges. 
Due to the lack of transparency in publishers' business models, 
universities and libraries would have no way of knowing whether 
the lost subscriptions were anything to do with OA. Even if they 
were, it is questionable whether recovering lost income by 
double-charging for subscriptions and OA publication charges 
would be justified, but the lost subscriptions could be for many 
reasons not connected with OA, e.g. a drop in the quality of the 
journals. Would publishers be saying that they intend to maintain 
their income through OA publication charges however many authors 
pay for OA under the hybrid model?

Fred Friend
JISC Scholarly Communication Consultant
Honorary Director Scholarly Communication UCL

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jan Velterop" <velteropvonleyden@btinternet.com>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 4:19 AM
Subject: Re: Springer Open Choice uptake affects 2011 journal pricing


>
> The presumed linearity of the relationship between subscription
> price and OA uptake is problematic.
>
> Suppose the subscription price is $1500 and the OA fee $3000 per
> article. If an uptake of 10 articles coincides with the
> cancellation of 20 subscriptions, the net income difference for
> the publisher is nil (ignoring agents fees and discounts). So why
> would it then be justified to expect a reduction in subscription
> price?
>
> Jan Velterop
>