I hope this email will clarify the points Ian
raises about the new BioMed Central membership
scheme.

> 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?

It's not a subscription, as access to all the
papers is and remains free to everyone wherever in
the world. There is a small cost at the 'input'
side, but no cost whatsoever at the 'output' side.
It is not realistic to expect that there are no
costs at all associated with the publication of
research material. If these costs of just $500 per
article are met by institutions on behalf of
authors, the sum-total of the cost of scholarly
communication will drop by as much as a factor of
8-10 (the current average sum-total subscription
income to the publishers per article being in the
order of $4-5000).

> Was basing them on FTEs in biomedicine considered?
  How many papers a year will we get for our money
  compared with conventional journals for the same
  cost?

The cost of BioMed Central membership is based on
FTEs in the life sciences and medicine. Our
apologies if that was not clear (we will rectify
this). Regarding your question of how many papers
you will get in comparison to other journals, it's
not just the number of papers you 'get' for your
money (everybody gets them, they are free), but
the number of papers you are making available to a
worldwide unlimited audience. You may wish to pay
the per article processing charges rather than a
membership entitling your institution to
publishing an unlimited number of articles. We
would be pleased with that and it removes any
trace of a risk on your part, as you would only
pay for articles from your institution published
with BioMed Central. We hope, however, that
institutions will be willing to structurally
support a major change in the system of scholarly
communication, where currently net profit margins
for journals often top 50% while at the same time
restricting access to a few hundred institutions.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require
any further information.

Regards

Gordon

Dr Gordon Fletcher
Press Officer
BioMed Central Limited
Middlesex House
32-34 Cleveland Street
London
W1T 4LB
Tel: +44 (0)20 7323 0323 ext 2331
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.biomedcentral.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Winship [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 07 January 2002 16:50
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: BioMed Central - Press Release


A few quick thoughts.
Biomed Central always seemed like a good idea when it was free, but less so
now.

> 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?

> Fees for Institutional Membership in 2002 are as follows:

Was basing them on FTEs in biomedicine considered? How many papers a year
will we get for our money compared with conventional journals for the same
cost?

> 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?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~