The document discusses the costs associated with publishing open access monographs, detailing fixed and variable costs such as peer review, printing, and distribution. It presents two funding models based on cost data to assist funders, highlighting an average cost of €12,000 per monograph with significant proportions allocated to editing and direct personnel costs. Conclusions indicate that both open access and hybrid funding options should be considered moving forward.

1. OAPEN-NL
Costs of monographs
OAPEN-NL Final Seminar
22 October 2013
Ronald Snijder

2. Contents
•
•
•
•
Research setup
Results
Funding models
Conclusion

3. Starting points
• OA costs and print costs
• OA costs:
– Fixed
– Flexible
• Just costs, no profits
• No VAT
• Analysis on book level, not by publisher

4. Division of costs
OA Costs:
Print costs:
Peer review (fixed)
Printing, binding
Platform (fixed)
Distribution
Marketing
Overhead/indirect personnel costs
Editing/direct personnel costs
Other/direct costs
DTP
Marketing
Overhead/indirect personnel costs
Royalties
Other/direct costs
Royalties
Cover

5. Highest and lowest
Highest
Total costs
Total OA costs
OA fixed
OA variable
Print costs
Lowest
€ 20,660
€ 6,082
€ 9,490
€ 3,085
€ 825
€ 25
€ 8,965
€ 2,460
€ 11,170
€ 2,997

6. Book 17
Book 43
Book 42
Book 14
Book 6
Book 50
Book 59
Book 35
Book 19
Book 2
Book 34
Book 24
Book 46
Book 45
Book 47
Book 26
Book 18
Book 44
Book 16
Book 55
Book 9
Book 65
Book 62
Book 32
Book 33
Book 15
Book 3
Book 22
Book 39
Book 51
Book 38
Book 37
Book 63
Book 60
Book 5
Book 11
Book 8
Book 41
Book 57
Book 1
Book 7
Book 13
Book 4
Book 53
Book 58
Book 20
Book 52
Book 10
Book 12
Book 56
Costs: per book – print, OA
Total costs
€ 25,000.00
€ 20,000.00
€ 15,000.00
€ 10,000.00
€ 5,000.00
€ 0.00
OA costs - fixed
OA costs - variable
Total print

7. Book 17
Book 15
Book 46
Book 55
Book 62
Book 65
Book 51
Book 42
Book 33
Book 44
Book 63
Book 34
Book 16
Book 50
Book 45
Book 18
Book 37
Book 11
Book 43
Book 38
Book 47
Book 14
Book 58
Book 10
Book 19
Book 39
Book 12
Book 57
Book 56
Book 41
Book 52
Book 53
Book 2
Book 5
Book 20
Book 35
Book 1
Book 22
Book 24
Book 32
Book 3
Book 8
Book 7
Book 6
Book 60
Book 9
Book 26
Book 13
Book 59
Book 4
Costs: per page – print, OA
Costs per page
€ 70.000
€ 60.000
€ 50.000
€ 40.000
€ 30.000
€ 20.000
€ 10.000
€ .000
Page: OA - fixed
Page: OA - variable
Page: print

8. Differences explained
• Three categories with large fluctuations:
– Editing/direct personnel costs
– DTP
– Overhead/indirect personnel costs
• 40% of costs (on average)
• Printing and binding:
– 35% of costs (on average)
– Constant factor

9. The costs of monographs – a model
OA Costs:
Print costs:
Peer review (fixed)
€ 205.68
Printing, binding
€ 2,867.34
Platform (fixed)
€ 113.04
Distribution
€ 1,565.22
Marketing
€ 263.04
Overhead/indirect personnel costs
€ 591.38
Editing/direct personnel costs
€ 1,947.76
Other/direct costs
€ 375.22
DTP
€ 1,791.41
Marketing
€ 436.83
Overhead/indirect personnel costs
€ 1,185.41
Royalties
€ 359.88
Other/direct costs
Royalties
€ 145.65
€ 25.83
Cover
€ 292.93
Total
€ 5,970.75
Total
€ 6,195.87

10. The costs of monographs –
percentages (1/3)
Other/direct
costs; 3%
Overhead/indirect
personnel costs;
5%
Royalties; 3% OA-Peer review
OA-Platform
(fixed); 2% (fixed); 1%
Marketing;
4%
OA-Marketing; 2%
OA-Editing/direct
personnel costs;
16%
Distribution;
13%
OA-DTP; 15%
Printing, binding;
23%
OA-Cover; 2%
OAOAOverhead/indirect
Other/direct personnel costs;
OA-Royalties; 0% costs; 1%
10%

11. The costs of monographs –
percentages (2/3)
Peer review
(fixed); 2%
Platform
(fixed); 1%
Marketing; 2%
Editing/direct
personnel costs;
16%
OA costs:
• € 5,970.75
• 49.1%
DTP; 15%
Cover; 2%
Royalties; 0%
Overhead/indirect
personnel costs;
10%
Other/direct costs;
1%

12. The costs of monographs –
percentages (3/3)
Other/direct costs;
3%
Marketing; 4%
Royalties; 3%
Overhead/indirect
personnel costs;
5%
Distribution; 13%
Printing, binding;
23%
Print costs:
• € 6,195.87
• 50.9%

13. Two funding models
Proposed options for funders, based on costs data:
• Open Access costs
–
–
–
–
Books up to 350 pages: € 4,500
Starting from page 351: € 12.50 per page
Maximum funding: € 7,500
Publishers are expected to sell paper copies
• Non printing costs
–
–
–
–
Books up to 350 pages: € 6,250
Starting from page 351: € 20 per page
Maximum funding: € 10,000
No additional sales: OA version only

14. Funding options and the pilot
How would funding options fare in the pilot?
Type
OA costs – fixed funding
Funding costs Costs < funding Published formats
€ 300,000
€ 31,032
OA version
Paper version
OA costs – adjusted funding
€ 253,200
€ 9,955
OA version
Paper version
Non-printing costs – fixed funding
€ 372,576
€ 29,686 OA version only
Non-printing costs – adjusted funding
€ 354,172
€ 24,429 OA version only
Adjusted options:
• Cheaper
• More flexible

15. Conclusion
What did we achieve?
• Costs model:
– Average monograph costs € 12,000
– 49% is OA costs, 51% is print/distribution costs
• Insight in significant factors:
– Editing/direct personnel costs; DTP; Overhead/indirect personnel
costs – 40 %
– Printing and binding – 35%
• Funding models:
– Hybrid: selling paper copies
– OA only
What’s next?
• To be decided by: Authors; Publishers; Funders; Libraries; …

16. Thank you!
More on OAPEN:
• www.oapen.org
• www.oapen.nl
• www.oapen-uk.jiscebooks.org
• Twitter:@Oapenbooks
Directory of Open Access Books:
• www.doabooks.org
• Twitter: @Doabooks
Contact me:
• r.snijder@oapen.org
• Twitter: @Ronaldsnijder