Open Access Publishing Models

Opportunity or Threat to Scholarly and Academic Publishers

Christine LambMay 2004

Content

♦ Introduction♦ Background♦ Definitions of Open Access♦ Open Archives and Repositories♦ Key Drivers ♦ Open Access Market♦ Open Access Business Models

Contents continued….

♦ Cost Structures♦ Funding Agencies♦ Open Access Publishers♦ Strategic Issues for Publishers♦ The Future of Open Access♦ Q and A

Introduction

♦ Open access journals provide free access to research articles

♦ Open access has a different business model for electronic journals

♦ Advocates are authors, academics, librarians and readers

♦ Publishers need to heed the messages from the market

Background: Print journals♦ Earliest journals in the 17th century

– Academies and societies– Peer review

♦ Journal Authorship– No payments– Copyright transfer– Indirect rewards of tenure, prestige

♦ Post WW II journals– Increased funding in science– Increasing number of scientists– Proliferation of journals

Background: Electronic Journals

♦ Before the 1990s– Bibliographies and full text databases– Improvements in communication technologies– Improvements in production technologies

♦ Mid-1990s– WWW– Full text journals became possible– Multimedia and interactive– Different business models possible, i.e. open access

Key Drivers1. Ubiquitous Internet access and technology2. Increasing volume of research 3. Print publishing cost structures and escalating

journal prices4. Consolidation of commercial publishing

houses, 5. Librarians looking for low-cost alternatives to

spiraling serials prices6. New forms and uses of research in electronic

media, i.e. open source human genome sequences

Definitions of Open Access♦ Budapest/Bethesda/Berlin

– Free access to electronic research articles in the sciences and humanities

– Read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or link– Attribution of author—no copyright transfer– Deposit original paper in an open archiveAlternatively:– Open access after 6 months to one year– Open access for developing countries

♦ Publishers traditionally have not allowed these activities without permission

Open Repositories and Archives

♦ Collections of articles, often by discipline, i.e.. Physics

♦ Hosted by institutions, government, i.e. D-space at MIT, PubMed at NIH

♦ Free access for all♦ Standards for meta-data to enable cross-

search♦ Threat to primary and secondary

publishers and aggregators

Open Access Business Models♦ Free access does not mean cost-free♦ Open access models shift the payment from the

reader to the author for electronic access-- $300-$1500 article processing fees, paid for by

research grants – Corporate and library fees for affiliated authors’

paper– Grants and subsidies for start-up operations– Hybrid models with option for open access for a fee

to the author– Other sources of revenue to support journal

Cost Structures

♦ Digital publishing is key to open access♦ First copy costs are $2,085 to $4,000♦ Printing, paper and delivery are a large portion

of print journals costs ♦ Electronic publishing eliminates 30%♦ New tools speed up and automate peer review,

editing=lower first copy costs♦ Ergo, open access revenue models will work

with new cost structures

Size of the Open Access Journals Market♦ Open Access Directory list 1,106 journals

– www.doaj.org

♦ Most are single titles, no print♦ 1999—4,000 electronic journals♦ 2004—14,147 electronic journals♦ Estimates of scholarly print journals range from

15,000 peer-reviewed to 70,000-80,000 worldwide

♦ Revenues for OA journals are miniscule

Open Access Publishers

♦ BioMed Central♦ Public Library of Science♦ Scientific World ♦ Berkeley Electronic Press♦ Public Knowledge Project♦ Company of Biologists

Funding Agencies

♦ National Science Foundation♦ Howard Hughes Medical Institute♦ Wellcome Trust, UK♦ Austrian Science Fund♦ Scholarly Publishing and Academic

Resources Coalition (SPARC)

Strategic Issues for Publishers

Open a access puts pressure on all publishers

♦ Different publishers/different threats– Professional associations and societies

•Mission vs. business– Non-profit presses and organizations

•Mission vs. independence– Commercial publishers

•Pressure on prices and profits

Strategic Issues continued…♦ Opportunity to rethink publishing strategies♦ Different publishers/different mix:

– Move to electronic-only publication– Allow free access to archives after six months or one

year– Allow authors to deposit articles in archives– Allow free access to developing countries– Allow authors to retain copyright– Adopt and test a hybrid version of open access– Develop new services and benefits for readers

The Future of Open Access

♦ Certain disciplines may be more suitable to open access—funding, readership

♦ Hybrid models are more sustainable for traditional publishers

♦ Open access will moderate journals prices♦ Readers and libraries will benefit from

richer, more useful electronic publications♦ Both types of publishers will look more

alike over time

Q & A

Thank you!

www.shore.com/research orLearned Publishing, April 2004.Clamb@shore.com