[GOAL] Re: How a flat APC with no price increase for 3 years can be a 6% - 77% price increase at the same time

[Heather Morrison]

hi Michael,

$1,350 USD plus or minus 25% is less than $2,000 USD, agreed. 

Can you explain what PLOS ONE does that justifies the $1,350 USD APC? 

My impression from my one attempt to serve as a PLOS ONE reviewer is that the model aims at something close to full automation of the process. Review requests are sent from "do-not-reply" e-mails with no human to contact with questions. Peer reviewers are directed to automated forced-choice forms, and even asked to verify whether authors have complied with PLOS ONE's data policy. There appears to be little to no human editorial participation in the publication process. This is a model that I personally reject as inhuman and inhumane (others might like the model). From my perspective, this model is also not consistent with the highest quality peer review. A good review does not fit an automated forced-choice form. In other areas of life, we have compromised on the human touch in favour of the greatly lower cost of automated processes. PLOS ONE seems to give us the worst of both - automation with loss of the human touch, de-skilling for peer reviewers, but ongoing high costs.

PLOS ONE has published a great many worthwhile articles over the years, and you and PLOS have contributed considerably to open access advocacy. Thank you for this and your comment on the list. This comment is intended as a friendly critique. PLOS ONE may not need to change at all, but it may be helpful to ask whether some of us might prefer to consider rather different models.

best,

Heather 



On 2015-05-13, at 11:27 PM, Michael Eisen wrote:

> It is true that distributing publication services locally would diminish the risk of currency fluctuations affecting APC stability, but it does not necessarily reduce costs for authors. I am sure, for example, that most authors would be happier to pay APCs that varied +/- 25% around $1350 than they would a fixed $2000. 
> 
> On Wed, May 13, 2015 at 5:40 PM, Heather Morrison <Heather.Morrison at uottawa.ca> wrote:
> In this post Jihane Salhab & I explain the impact of currency variations and fluctuations on the APC model. PLOS ONE has been a good model for the past few years in at least one respect: maintaining the APC of $1,350 USD with no price increase over several years. However, if you happen to be paying in Euros, the PLOS ONE APC rose 14% from March to December of 2014, or 23% from March 20, 2014 to March 20, 2015. In South Africa, the price increased 58% in the same 3-year period; in Brazil, the price increase was 77%.
> 
> For details and to view a table illustrating the PLOS ONE pricing in 8 currencies:
> http://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2015/05/13/how-a-flat-apc-with-no-price-increase-for-3-years-can-be-a-6-77-price-increase/
> 
> Any scholarly publishing system that involves cross-border payments, whether demand side (subscriptions / payments) or supply side (APC, journal hosting or other production services) has this disadvantage of pricing variability almost everywhere. In this case, US payers benefit from the flat fee, but anytime an APC is paid for a US scholar publishing in an international venue the same pricing variations based on currency will apply. In contrast, any scholarly publishing system that involves local payments (e.g. hosting of local journals, paying local copyeditors and proofreaders) has the advantage of relative pricing stability that comes with paying in the local currency.
> 
> Also on Sustaining the Knowledge Commons today: does the market economy really work for social reality? Reflections on an interview with David Simon by Alexis Calvé-Genest.
> http://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2015/05/13/market-economy-and-social-reality-a-pragmatic-view-from-a-well-known-author/
> 
> best,
> 
> -- 
> Dr. Heather Morrison
> Assistant Professor
> École des sciences de l'information / School of Information Studies
> University of Ottawa
> Desmarais 111-02
> 613-562-5800 ext. 7634
> Sustaining the Knowledge Commons: Open Access Scholarship
> http://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/
> http://www.sis.uottawa.ca/faculty/hmorrison.html
> Heather.Morrison at uottawa.ca
> 
> 
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> -- 
> Michael Eisen, Ph.D.
> Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
> Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
> Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
> University of California, Berkeley
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