Oxford University Press's Open Access programme is a model of pragmatic experimentation, and repositions the publisher as the intermediary of choice who picks the publishing and revenue models most appreciated by the widely differentiated sub-sector markets of STM - and social sciences and humanities....The difference between fundamental research and work on research technique can be demonstrated by a willingness in the former to pay the access bill, and in the latter to go for conventional publishing. These are the type of symptomatic lessons that Oxford are learning through a steady process of experimentation since 2003....In some areas of molecular biology some 30-40% of submissions in some journals are author-paid, and Oxford has accepted around 1,000 articles on these terms. It is probable that only BioMed Central have accepted more. Oxford's tariff is a moderate one: UKP800 (USD150) for authors based in a subscribing institution, UKP1,500 (USD2,800) where the author is based in a non-subscribing institution. As 'free' articles mount in the journal's portfolio, so subscription levels fall. OUP have successful journals where OA author-paid articles are 30% of content, and subscription pricing has declined pro rata.... It seems likely that the first result will be a demonstration of the complexity of the market - some OUP journals will be 100% OA one day - others will never get underway. Oxford Open will prove the poverty of generalisation.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 2/24/2006 11:13:00 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.
