[GOAL] Open Access: "Plan S" Needs to Drop "Option B"

[Thomas Krichel]

  Peter Murray-Rust writes

> The situation with all commercial publishers (including many scholarly
> societies) is now unacceptable.

  It seems perfectly acceptable to libraries who continue to pay vast
  amounts for subscription journals with most of the contents receiving
  very little use. The average academic reads one hour a week. Now you
  take all the academic in the institution, you count 56 weeks a year
  and divide your annual subscription cost by that number ... it turns
  out to be a very very expensive hour I am sure.

> Yes. I am now appalled at the scale of OA APC charges. I have outlined
> these in
> 
> https://www.slideshare.net/petermurrayrust/scientific-search-for-everyone
> slides 3-11
> 
> where I contend that probably >1000 USD of an APCs goes to shareholder
> profits and corporate branding and gross inefficiency.

  It is easy to be outraged at the riches of others, but clearly
  some people think it worth to pay that sort of amount. As long
  as they do, publishers can charge it. We should not be angry
  at those who charge but those who let them get away with it.  

> The effect of APCs on the Global  South is appalling

  People can still publish. If the research is good, it will
  eventually make it to become known.

  Stevan writes

> The only thing that is and has been sustaining the paywalls on research
> has been publishers' lobbying of governments on funder OA policy and their
> manipulation of institutional OA policy with "Big Deals" on extortionate
> library licensing fees to ensure that OA policies always include Option B.

  If I recall correctly, "paywalls" usually, in this group's
  discussion, refers to limit access papers to those who pay for
  it. It is library subscriptions that keep paywalls running.  I said
  this years ago. Stevan kept on dismissing my call to cancel
  subscription saying we need to wait until full green OA is achieved
  to start cancelling subscriptions.

  I agree fully that APCs as charged by commercial publishers are too
  high. But you can't blame publishers for wanting to charge them. You
  have to address the willingness to pay them.  If institutions were
  to pay them fully, a race to spend more on APCs to demonstrate
  research quality will raise the cost of scholarly communication
  intemediation, potentially making OA more expensive than subscriptions.

  But I am not worried yet, because Plan S would only cover funded
  research, and it calls for a cap.

-- 

  Cheers,

  Thomas Krichel                  http://openlib.org/home/krichel
                                              skype:thomaskrichel