Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Saturday, May 29, 2004

BMJ editor responds to Elsevier CEO

Tony Delamothe, 'Author pays' model raises hope of freely available research, Financial Times, May 29, 2004. A letter to the editor in response to Arie Jongejan's anti-OA article published on Wednesday. Excerpt: "From a company making margins of 34 per cent from publishing scientific research, Elsevier's Arie Jongejan understandably cannot resist the temptations of the status quo. But those of us who are less conflicted applaud Wellcome Trust's endorsement of the 'author pays' business model for underwriting the costs of scientific publishing, and its illuminating analyses of the peculiar economics of this market." (PS: In fairness, "author pays" is a misleading way to describe this business model, whether the phrase is used by friends or foes. In most cases the fee will be paid by the author's research grant or be waived. Many OA journals charge no processing fee at all.)