[1] The ALPSP, AAMC and HighWire journals considered are well established; on average, they published their first print issues 40 years ago. The DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) titles are much newer; half started publication during the last decade. Might this mean that the comparison was not exactly ‘like-for-like’? Furthermore, the comparison was between subscription journals and fully open access ones; no hybrid journals (i.e. journals that offer the authors a choice) were considered, where that model is obviously the most suited for established journals. [2] Most ALPSP journals made a surplus (75%). 41% of the full OA journals made a loss; 24% broke even, and 35% made a surplus. Might this mean that 1/4 of the long-established ALPSP journals still doesn’t make a profit and that almost 60% of the new open access journals at least break even, and well over half of those are profitable? If the comparison would have been between these new open access journals and equally new traditional journals, headlines such as “Open Access Publishing ‘Unprofitable’” (as reported in The Bookseller) would not likely be justified. [3] Furthermore, if one takes a look at the open access journals in the Directory of Open Access Journals, one sees quite a few subsidised journals, of the sort that would also be subsidised were they traditional journals. The ALPSP study hardly, therefore, seems to offer a comparison that enlightens us. Or maybe it does, if indeed nearly 60% breaks even, which is given the sort of journals we are looking at quite phenomenal. [4] Of the ALPSP group of journals, 34% are planning to test or adapt a new online business model sometime in the next three years. That's great. It means that quite a few are willing to look forward rather than back.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 10/14/2005 01:54:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
