BioMed CentralThe Open Access Publisher
Becky FishmanMembership Director
[email protected]://www.biomedcentral.com
BioMed CentralIndependent online publishing housePublishing peer-reviewed research across all areas of biology and medicine, with immediate, barrier-free open access for all.Part of the Current Science Group of independent companiesOffices in London, New York, Philadelphia and Tokyo
Scientific Publishing….
What is the current publishing model?What’s wrong with it?What are the alternatives?
Today’s (soon yesterday’s) print-derived model:
Publisher
Author transfers copyrightor exclusive publishing rights
©
PublisherManuscript
Free Use
Only those who can afford expensive subscriptions or
licences have access
Result:
“What are publishers doing for us?”
‘I think scientists all over would be shocked to realise what a phenomenally lucrative business scientific publishing
can be.’
Nicholas Cozzarelli-editor in chief of the PNAS
Traditional role of the publisher is under scrutiny
Subscriptions and licences limit accessTo be useful, research must be used To be used (read, cited, applied, extended) it must be accessible
Prices do not reflect quality or costsSubscription prices have increased by as much as 146% in 10 years –e.g.
Brain Research1991: £3,7132001: £9,148
Authors lose rightse.g. to put their paper on a publicly accessible server
Often inefficient and slow
Scientific Publishing….What is the current publishing model?What’s wrong with it?What are the alternatives?
What Alternatives?Open AccessAchieved by reversing the business modelFrom output-paid, to input-paid
No subscription/licensing chargesArticle Processing Charges
Further financed by alternative revenues such as advertising and subscription journal sales.
Open Access: the BioMed Central model
Publisher
$Author pays small amount of money
or rather, institution pays on author’s behalf
PublisherManuscript
OPEN@CCESS
Everyone has accessAll use is fair use
Result:
Some Open Access Initiatives
PR Initiatives• Public Library of Science• Budapest Open Access Initiative
Facilitators• SPARC• PubMed Central
Publishers• BioMed Central• Public Library of Science (coming soon!)
Open AccessPLoS
Public Library of Science open letter initiative
http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org/An initiative for and by scientists, reflecting the groundswell of opinion in the research communityC.30,000 signatories so farWill not publish in, peer review or serve on editorial board of any journal that doesn’t archive research content on public server within 6 months of publication date.
Open AccessBOAI
Budapest Open Access Initiative
http://www.soros.org/openaccessGenerated from OSI meeting in Budapest in December 2001Emphasis on self-archiving and starting new journals to compete with existing high-cost journals
Open AccessPubMed Central
Part of the National Institutes of Health of the USAA repository (not a publisher) of research articles from participating publishersPNAS, BMJ, Institute of Physics, BioMed Central, but few othersA permanent archive of research material
BioMed CentralAdvantages
Immediate and continuous publicationNone of the spatial constraints of print
True free access for all Not even compulsory registration, except when using search function
Fast, efficient peer reviewVery high visibility
200 downloads per article per monthAuthors have access to download figures
Authors keep copyright and control
BioMed CentralMore Advantages
PermanenceArchived in PubMed Central
Searchable and retrievable Included in PubMed immediately upon publication (applications to Medline outstanding)Published in one journal, but cross-listed in other relevant ones
Deposited in CrossRef, indexed by BIOSIS, CAS and othersExtensive promotion for outstanding articlesOpportunities to link to and from updates
BioMed Central’s Peer Review Process
Online – rapid2 reviewers plus statistician, if necessaryOpen, with signed comments posted
For medical journals only
Decision on whether to publish based on validity (even negative results are published)
BMC Open Access JournalsBiologyBiochemistryBioinformaticsBiotechnologyCell biologyChemical BiologyDevelopmental BiologyEcologyEvolutionary BiologyGeneticsGenomicsImmunologyMicrobiologyMolecular BiologyNeurosciencePharmacologyPlant biologyStructural Biology
MedicineAnesthesiologyBlood DisordersCancer Cardiovascular DisordersClinical PathologyClinical PharmacologyComplementary and
Alternative MedicineDermatologyEar, Nose and Throat
DisordersEmergency MedicineEndocrine DisordersFamily practiceGastroenterologyGeriatricsHealth Service ResearchInfectious diseasesInternational Health and
Human RightsMedical EducationMedical EthicsMedical Genetics
Medical ImagingMedical Informatics and Decision MakingMedical Research Methodology Musculoskeletal DisordersNephrologyNeurologyNuclear MedicineNursingOphthalmologyOncologyOphthalmologyOral HealthPalliative CarePediatricsPregnancy and ChildbirthPsychiatryPublic healthPulmonary Medicine SurgeryUrology
New Journals Start your own
This facility empowers scientists to launch new journals in specialist areas All they have to do is:
Provide a scope statement Assemble an editorial boardSelect a journal titleProvide lists of potential authors
BioMed Central provides a publishing platform, a web site and technical expertise for the journals
BioMed Central New JournalsSome examples of new, autonomous, journals using
BioMed Central’s infrastructure and technology:
BioMed CentralRevenues
Article Processing Charges (APCs) of $500 per published paper
Automatic waivers for authors from developing countries – and to others on a case-by-case basis
Institutional membershipIncludes automatic APC-waivers for authors from member institutions
Advertising
Article Charges Who pays?
Preferably not authors themselves
Bodies that finance research, such as institutionsfunding bodies Companies
BioMed Central Institutional Membership
Sponsorships
InstitutionalMembership
Annual fee, usually proportional to the relevant number of researchers and faculty at each institutionOSI-funded memberships available on applicationAutomatic waivers of article processing chargesDedicated pages on BioMed Central site on which papers published at the institute are listed and linked to their servers15% discount on paid-for products such as Faculty of 1000 and images.MD
OSI-Funded institutional members
Semmelweis University, BudapestUniversity of Debrecen, HungaryCharles University, PragueRudjer BoskovicInstitute, CroatiaBogazici University, TurkeyMinistry of Health, Kyrgyz Republic
Czech Academy of Sciences, PragueJessenius Faculty of Medicine, SlovakiaPalacky University, PragueRepublican Clinical Hospital, MoldovaUniversity of Natal, South AfricaUniversity of the Orange Free State, South Africa
BioMed CentralOpen Access: The New Scenario
Authors take charge: author choicePublishing becomes a service to researchers and their communities – not selling of content
No need for copyright transfer from author to publisherMassively increased exposure for research workIntroduces competition – breaks monopolies journals (publishers) have – enhances market efficiencyMore cost-effective for academia
‘It is the scientists who are going to have to figure out how they want
their work to be available’Mary Case –
Association of Research Libraries