[GOAL] Re: Gold OA: Publication costs and journal impact factors

[Jan Velterop]

It's entirely logical; I agree with Sally.

What you're also likely to find is that OA articles in hybrid journals are just a small fraction of the number of OA articles in fully OA journals. Probably a consequence of a functional market already working.

It does indicate, though, a flaw in the way article processing charges for OA are levied on published articles only. Thus perpetuating the deep flaw in the subscription model, namely that all the costs are loaded onto the published articles only, whereas rejecting involves arguably a similar amount of work per paper. A submission fee (analogous to, say, an exam fee) would be much fairer. They don't exist (that is to say, not as a means to cover all costs of a journal). Nobody has the guts to start charging only submission fees.

There are of course also problems with submission fees. If you have to pay and still run the risk of rejection, you would want to be very sure that the peer-review has been carried out professionally and well, and you would expect accountability. Many journals would risk failure on the accountability front, I suspect. 

But the benefits reach beyond fairness. Submissions would be far less speculative and pitched at the right level far more often than is the case now. Preventing the cascading down effect, with all the waste of reviewers' time that comes with multiple rounds of rejection and submission elsewhere, must be an attractive consequence. Not to mention the reformatting of manuscript necessary for many a new submission (because to a different journal) of a previously rejected article.

Who dares? eLife perhaps, by the time it starts charging? Wouldn't be the first time the Wellcome Trust with their colleagues at HHMI and MPG turned out game changers.

Jan Velterop


On 12 Oct 2012, at 15:32, Sally Morris wrote:

> I find it self-evident, rather than worrying
> 
> On the value side of the pricing equation, publishing in a high IF journal
> is clearly of more value to an author than publishing in a lo or no IF
> journal.
> 
> On the cost side, I'd guess that high IF journals tend to reject a higher %
> of articles than low or no IF journals.  Accepted articles have to bear a
> share of the costs of processing these articles up to the point of
> rejection. 
> 
> Sally
> 
> 
> Sally Morris
> South House, The Street, Clapham, Worthing, West Sussex, UK  BN13 3UU
> Tel:  +44 (0)1903 871286
> Email:  sally at morris-assocs.demon.co.uk
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: goal-bounces at eprints.org [mailto:goal-bounces at eprints.org] On Behalf
> Of ANDREW Theo
> Sent: 12 October 2012 15:12
> To: goal at eprints.org
> Subject: [GOAL] Gold OA: Publication costs and journal impact factors
> 
> Dear All,
> 
> I'd like to draw your attention to a piece of work we have carried out which
> looks at Gold OA fees and journal impact factors:
> 
> http://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/openscholarship/2012/10/02/impact-cost/
> 
> In short, it appears that 1) hybrid journals generally charge more than full
> OA journals independent of journal impact factor, and 2) hybrid journals
> with high impact factors charge significantly more than other types of
> journal for gold open access. 
> 
> I find this apparent correlation between journal impact factor and cost
> worrying and would welcome feedback. Is this something that other people are
> seeing or have we got our facts wrong?
> 
> Kind regards, Theo
> __________________________
> Theo Andrew
> Research Publications Service
> Edinburgh University Library
> 
> tel.      0131 651 3850
> web.   http://bit.ly/UoE-RPS
> post.   4 Buccleuch Place, 
>             Edinburgh, EH8 9LW.
> skype. theoandrew
> 
> 
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> with registration number SC005336.
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