Green Open Access Journals and SciPost

1. Claudio Attaccalite
Scientific Publishing
and SciPost
The views expressed in this presentation do not necessarily reflect the views of the SciPost fondation
Illustrations by Dom McKenzie

2. Scientific Publishing
is a remarkable big business
With a total global revenues of more than £19bn,
it weights between recording and film industries
but it is more profitable
For example Elsevier in 2010 posted a profit margin
of 36%. Higher than Apple or Google
20% for society publishers and 25% for university publishers
Successful magazines make profits of around 12­15%
This margin raised to 40% in 2013

3. Why Scientific Publishing
is so profitable?
Governments fund scientists Scientists give their results to
publishers for free
Scientists peer review
manuscripts
Publishers sell products
to libraries
A triple pay system
Governments fund
libraries

4. What about
(gold) Open access
●
In physics the major part of journals allows authors
to self­archive contents that have been published
●
Open­access journals have a lower publication
cost (only online, new companies, better workflow)
●
Conversion to OPJ is slow because subscriptions
are paid by universities, and for scientists
perspective subscriptional journals are for free.
but

5. (Gold) Open access
is not a solution
●
PloS ONE $1350 70%
●
Physical Review Letters $2700 35%
●
Nature $30k­40k 8%
●
Publication cost
is proportional to
impact factor
(you can pay
to get more visibility)
●
Acceptance rate is higher

6. green Open Access
(SciPost and others)
Let’s bring some money
back to science

7. https://scipost.org/
An idea of Jean-Sébastien Caux

8. ●
Two­way open access: for readers and authors!
●
Managed by professional scientists
●
Non­profit
●
Peer­witnessed refereeing
Scientific publications undergo a peer refereeing process, witnessed by the
community instead of hidden behind closed doors.
●
Accountable and credited refereeing
Peer refereeing should be accountable, and should be incentivized by being
credited
●
Post­publication evaluation
Peer evaluation does not stop at the moment of publication.

9. Submission through
arXiv SciPost Editor (me)
Three referees are
contacted
Referees report
and editor
recommendation
Decision on publication or rejection is
taken by the Editorial College
PublicationComments
Rejection

10. Conclusions
●
green Open Access journal (SciPost and others) are
a valid alternative to Open­Access Journal and
Subscriptional Journal
●
They will not substitute normal journals but can push them to low
their prices
‘You have no idea how profitable these journals are once you stop
doing anything. When you’re building a journal, you spend time
getting good editorial boards etc.. and then ….. we stop doing all that
stuff and then the cash just pours out and you wouldn’t believe how
wonderful it is.’
Pierre Vinken, the CEO of Elsevier
Let’s bring some money back to science

11. References:
● SciPost, http://scipost.org
● Open access: The true cost of science publishing
https://www.nature.com/news/open-access-the-true-cost-of-science-publishing-1.12676
● How much does it cost to publish in Open Access?
http://blog.scielo.org/en/2013/09/18/how-much-does-it-cost-to-publish-in-open-access/#.WabWT
● To Open Access or not to Open Access?
http://new.amsterdamscience.org/wp-content/uploads/issue_04.pdf
● Giornali ad accesso aperto e giornali per ricercatori ricchi (italian)
https://fisiciaroundtheworld.wordpress.com/2015/05/17/giornali-ad-accesso-aperto-e-giornali-per
● Is the staggeringly profitable business of scientific publishing bad for science?
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/27/profitable-business-scientific-publishing-bad-fo
● SciELO, http://www.scielo.br/
● Quantum Journal, http://quantum-journal.org/
● The Truth about China’s Cash-for-Publication Policy
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608266/the-truth-about-chinas-cash-for-publication-policy/