News release from BioMed Central
18/05/09



Open Access Membership: Reporting tool brings convenience and control


Following the recent rapid growth of institutional Memberships for open access publications, innovative publisher BioMed Central announces the introduction of the "Online Reporting System" for its open access Prepay and Postpay Membership accounts. Building on BioMed Central's cutting edge publishing platform, the new reporting system will assist organizations' annual publication budgeting and help reduce the administrative costs associated with managing open access publications.

The unique online system, accessible anywhere in the world 24 hours a day, provides members with greater account control, allowing for management of their published and 'in progress' articles and detailed, customizable statements. This will allow all members to keep a close eye on their outstanding balances and purchase histories.

The quick and easy reporting tool allows users to monitor authors claiming their "Article Processing Charge" payment via a Prepay or Postpay Membership, whilst also providing an unprecedented level of reporting into submission dates, costs-per-article and forecasts into future balances once 'in progress' submissions are published.

The system gives BioMed Central's members a timely, crucial tool to aid the management of their budget. This ensures that organizations get the most from their open access Membership, whilst also significantly reducing the time spent managing and monitoring submissions to BioMed Central's journals.

-ENDS-


Media Contact
Matt McKay
Head of PR
BioMed Central

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Notes to Editors:

1. BioMed Central (www.biomedcentral.com) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access 	publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.

2. BioMed Central's Prepay Membership is an advanced payment system whereby customers pay upfront for articles published by their 	authorised users to be processed and published. Upon publication, the full Article Processing Charge for the journal in question, minus the discount that applies, will be deducted from the account. The higher the amount paid in advance, the greater the discount given. A user guide to the new Online Reporting System can be found here:http://www.biomedcentral.com/download/info/prepayinstructions.pdf