[GOAL] In the E.U.? your USD OA APC costs 21% more today than a year ago

[Heather Morrison]

Jihane Salhab and I have prepared a post intended to explain the impact of currency fluctuations on APCs. In brief, if you are in the E.U., a USD APC that has not changed in amount in the past year will cost you 21% more today, due solely to the rising strength of the US dollar.

A strong currency benefits the buyer (purchaser of APCs) but works against the seller (less competitive). This is a disadvantage of international publishing for both APCs and subscriptions.

Currency fluctuations make budgeting difficult. This is important in scholarly publishing, because buyers - libraries, universities, funders - tend to work in environments with very constrained budgets. It is very unlikely that an E.U. library or university will receive a 21% increase in funding to offset the higher cost of US-based APCs.

Details and examples from a few other currencies:
http://sustainingknowledgecommons.org/2015/05/20/in-the-e-u-your-usd-apcs-cost-21-more-than-a-year-ago/

Congratulations to the US - a strong currency tends to reflect a healthy economy.

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<mailto:Heather.Morrison at uottawa.ca>


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