<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">A big flaw in the way journals are financially sustained — true for Article Processing Charges (APCs) of OA journals as well as for subscriptions to pay-walled journals — is that the entire cost of publication is loaded solely on the published articles. That may seem logical, but a large proportion of a journal's cost is proportional with the number of submissions, not with the number of published articles. It follows that the rejection/acceptance ratio has a major effect on the cost. If the submissions rise, and the published articles don't, e.g. because a journal becomes more selective, the costs per accepted/published article increase. All the work done on a submitted paper that is eventually rejected will have to be paid out of income in respect of published articles, be it via APCs or subscriptions. In the case of APCs it means they would have to rise, unless they were too high to begin with.<div><br></div><div>There are two possibilities that I can think of here, at least for OA journals sustained by APCs:</div><div>1) Set the level of APCs according to rejection rates of the journal (e.g. of the previous year; there is bound to be a lag). This would logically mean increasing APCs for increasingly more selective journals;</div><div>2) Charge an APC per submission, irrespective of whether the article will be accepted or not (a bit like exam fees; you pay also if you fail).</div><div><br></div><div>In my view, 2) is logically the right solution, but perhaps not psycho-logically (and it has unintended consequences, too, which I won't go into right now). However, without submission fees, APCs that vary with selectiveness of the journal are pretty much inevitable. The differences may well become greater than they currently are.</div><div><br></div><div>Jan Velterop</div><div><br><div><div>On 28 Feb 2014, at 13:50, Heather Morrison <<a href="mailto:Heather.Morrison@uottawa.ca">Heather.Morrison@uottawa.ca</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div>hi Jan,</div><div><br></div><div>Good question! No, I have not looked into whether BMC's rejection rates have increased.</div><div><br></div><div>Whether this would be an acceptable reason for increasing prices at all, or at a particular rate, is a different question.</div><div><br></div><div>For example, unlike a print-based journal with size constraints imposed by the need to bundle articles into mailable issues, an online open access journal can easily increase in scale with more submissions. PLOS ONE has demonstrated the potential for translating rapid growth in submissions to rapid journal growth, with no price increase, technological innovations, and a more than healthy surplus.</div><div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div><br></div><div>Heather Morrison</div><div><br></div><div><br>On Feb 28, 2014, at 7:08 AM, "Frantsvåg Jan Erik" <<a href="mailto:jan.e.frantsvag@uit.no" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">jan.e.frantsvag@uit.no</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><div><span></span></div><blockquote type="cite"><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1;"><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Interesting numbers!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Have you investigated if some of this increase could be explained by an increased rejection rate? – this would be an acceptable explanation, in my opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">The suspicion is, of course, that this could be one result of e.g. the RCUK OA policy, which creates a less competitive market and better conditions for generating super-profits.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">I think it was Guédon who asked why currency fluctuations always led to price increases …<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Wingdings; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">J</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Best,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Jan Erik<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Jan Erik Frantsvåg<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Open Access adviser<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">The University Library of Tromsø<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">phone +47 77 64 49 50<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">e-mail<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><a href="mailto:jan.e.frantsvag@uit.no" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-GB">jan.e.frantsvag@uit.no</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><a href="http://en.uit.no/ansatte/organisasjon/ansatte/person?p_document_id=43618&p_dimension_id=88187" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;"><span lang="EN-GB">http://en.uit.no/ansatte/organisasjon/ansatte/person?p_document_id=43618&p_dimension_id=88187</span></a></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Publications:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/6rycjns" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">http://tinyurl.com/6rycjns</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></div><div><div style="border-style: solid none none; border-top-color: rgb(181, 196, 223); border-top-width: 1pt; padding: 3pt 0cm 0cm;"><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;">Fra:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:goal-bounces@eprints.org" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">goal-bounces@eprints.org</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>[<a href="mailto:goal-bounces@eprints.org" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">mailto:goal-bounces@eprints.org</a>]<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>På vegne av</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Heather Morrison<br><b>Sendt:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>28. februar 2014 00:54<br><b>Til:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci)<br><b>Emne:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>[GOAL] The dramatic growth of BioMedCentral's open access article processing charges<o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div><div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thanks to the University of Ottawa's open sharing of their author fund data, I've been able to calculate that over the past few years there is evidence that BMC is raising prices at rates far beyond inflation (and far beyond what could be accounted for through currency fluctuations). <o:p></o:p></div></div><div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div></div><div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Details are posted here:<o:p></o:p></div></div><div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.ca/2014/02/the-dramatic-growth-of-biomedcentral.html" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.ca/2014/02/the-dramatic-growth-of-biomedcentral.html</a><o:p></o:p></div></div><div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div></div><div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Note that this data reflects BMC practices and cannot be generalized to open access publishing as a whole. Public Library of Science, for example, has achieved a 23% surplus in the same time frame without increasing their OA article processing charges at all.<o:p></o:p></div></div><div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div></div><div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">best,<o:p></o:p></div></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div><div><div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">-- <br>Dr. Heather Morrison<br>Assistant Professor<br>École des sciences de l'information / School of Information Studies<br>University of Ottawa<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Desmarais 111-02<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 13.5pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">613-562-5800 ext. 7634<br><a href="http://www.sis.uottawa.ca/faculty/hmorrison.html" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">http://www.sis.uottawa.ca/faculty/hmorrison.html</a><br><a href="mailto:Heather.Morrison@uottawa.ca" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">Heather.Morrison@uottawa.ca</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p> </o:p></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>GOAL mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:GOAL@eprints.org" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">GOAL@eprints.org</a></span><br><span><a href="http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal</a></span><br></blockquote>_______________________________________________<br>GOAL mailing list<br><a href="mailto:GOAL@eprints.org" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">GOAL@eprints.org</a><br><a href="http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal" style="color: purple; text-decoration: underline;">http://mailman.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/goal</a></div></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>