Re: Springer Open Choice uptake affects 2011 journal pricing

[Jan Velterop <velteropvonleyden@btinternet.com>]

Bernd-Christoph,

My comments do not constitute an excuse. I asked a question: Why 
would it be justified to expect a linear reduction in 
subscription prices?

The fallacy is that subscription prices are just a "cost per 
article times the number of articles published". As if the 
(realistically expected) number of subscriptions do not matter. 
Of course they do.  Only those who've never been, or looked into 
the workings of, a publisher can think otherwise.

Publishers *do* and should reduce their prices as a result of OA 
uptake. It's just not the simplistically straightforward and 
naive calculation some critics expect it to be.

I'm not even defending publishers here; I'm defending sound 
mathematics.

Jan Velterop