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> A few quick thoughts. And I'll play devil's advocate to stir up some debate! > Biomed Central always seemed like a good idea when it was free, but less so now. If you want peer-reviewed (i.e. quality-assured) journals then someone is probably going to have to pay for something at some point. Paying to publish, rather than to subscribe, has long been mooted as a solution to the 'periodicals pricing crisis'. Open Archives are an alternative - but they raise questions about quality assurance. >> Librarians have reacted positively to the idea of institutional >> membership. They recognize that paying for publishing through a >> processing charge is preferable to the increasing spiral of >> subscription costs. > > Looks a bit like a sub to me!! This has shifted the cost burden back to > libraries, which is maybe acceptable, but other than not having page > charges for authors how will this all differ from conventional journals? Maybe the burden of paying the membership fee should fall to the university, faculty or department rather than the library. What do universities do about 'traditional' journals that charge page fees? If they don't pay these fees for their authors, isn't it rather unfair that authors are employed to do research and required to publish, but may find that they have to pay their own money to publish their work? If universities do pay their authors' page charges (be they at BioMed Central or elsewhere) then this membership scheme will allow them to save money - as long as they (i.e. their authors) are committed to publishing at BioMed Central. That's why I think it should be the Faculty/School/Dept that pays for membership. It needs the commitment of the authors to make membership good value for money. A well-intentioned library isn't enough! >> Very large institutions (more than 5000 FTE) from $7500 per annum > > This is not 'very large' - most UK universities will be bigger than this. > What's the cost for 15000 FTE? The numbers are for FTE staff and postgrads only. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Ian Winship > Learning Resources, University of Northumbria at Newcastle > City Campus Library, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK > ---------------- > e-mail: [log in to unmask] > phone: 0191 227 4150 fax: 0191 227 4563 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Terry Bucknell Electronic Resources Manager Harold Cohen Library University of Liverpool PO Box 123 Liverpool L69 3DA Tel: +44 (0)151 794 5408 Fax: +44 (0)151 794 5417 Email: [log in to unmask]