 |
 |
Dear Richard, You question was covered in a 2004 report commissioned by the Wellcome Trust: 'Costs and Business Models in Scientific Research Publishing' http:[log in to unmask] There was also a very good Editorial on the subject by the Editors in the very first issue of the Journal of Open Medicne in 2007: Why Open Medicine? http://www.openmedicine.ca/article/view/74/3 Regards, Ash >________________________________ > From: Richard Saitz <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Sent: Sunday, 25 March 2012, 12:40 >Subject: Re: Perils of open access > >Colleagues, >I appreciate the thoughtful (open...) exchange of ideas on this topic. > >One thing I haven't seen fleshed out so much is what the cost of publishing >a research article should be and who should pay for it. It seems to me >there is a cost associated with it and although it is easy to say a charge >to an author seems "expensive" I would be interested in knowing what the >cost is. > >I anticipate the answer should be related to what we expect of published >articles. Some very high quality journals have statistical and illustration >editors and editors who are paid. In addition to infrastructure for >manuscript management and editing, and peer review there are production >steps and indexing and archiving all of which require a fair amount of human >skilled capital. Maintaining and operating a server indefinitely with useful >search functions etc is not a small or inexpensive endeavor. If we add up >those costs, they should be related to any fees charged for publication. I >don't know if that exercise would lead to a conclusion that the charges we >are seeing are high or low or about right. > >My conclusion is that good quality journal publishing costs money and >someone has to pay for it if we want it. So then the question turns to who >should pay? If the research is funded (public or private) perhaps those >funds should include the cost of disseminating the results. If not funded, >then someone still has to pay. It can be the author, or the reader. There >don't seem to be too many other options (other options are fancier versions >of author or reader--like institutions or governments or groups of >authors/readers). In any case, it doesn't strike me that OA vs traditional >subscription is clearly right or wrong. They are two different ways of >paying for something that costs money. We should probably move the debate >to the benefits and harms of both based on evidence... > >Best >Rich > > > > > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Evidence based health (EBH) >[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ginny Barbour >Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2012 4:24 AM >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Perils of open access > >Dear All - I'd like to add my voice to Neil's and encourage anyone >interested in this topic to join the webinar next Wednesday (register at >[log in to unmask]). >There is a lot of misunderstanding about what open access is which I hope we >can discuss. More importantly, there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding >about what the potential benefits of OA are (ie, not just free access but >also reuse) - and how such a model really offers opportunities not possible >in subscription based models of publishing. But it is especially critical >that we do ensure that better dissemination does not mean that there is less >participation from authors without access to funds to pay for publishing - >ie that barriers to access do not turn into barriers to publish. PLoS and >other OA publishers are very keen to ensure this is not the case (and as >Trish Groves noted earlier many have waiver policies in place for example) >but we need to hear from all sides of the debate as we plan how best OA >publishing can serve the needs of the entire community. > >Best wishes >Ginny Barbour > >Dr Virginia Barbour > >Chief Editor, PLoS Medicine >Medicine Editorial Director, PLoS >Secretary, Committee on Publication Ethics >e: [log in to unmask] > >______________________________________________________________________ >This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service. >For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com >______________________________________________________________________ > > >