Open Access Publishing
Models

Opportunity or Threat to Scholarly
and Academic Publishers

Christine Lamb
May 2004
Content
♦ Introduction
♦ Background
♦ Definitions of Open Access
♦ Open Archives and Repositories
♦ Key Drivers
♦ Open Access Market
♦ Open Access Business Models
Contents continued….
♦ Cost Structures
♦ Funding Agencies
♦ Open Access Publishers
♦ Strategic Issues for Publishers
♦ The Future of Open Access
♦ Q and A
Introduction
♦ Open access journals provide free access
  to research articles
♦ Open access has a different business
  model for electronic journals
♦ Advocates are authors, academics,
  librarians and readers
♦ Publishers need to heed the messages
  from the market
Background: Print journals
♦ Earliest journals in the 17th century
   – Academies and societies
   – Peer review
♦ Journal Authorship
   – No payments
   – Copyright transfer
   – Indirect rewards of tenure, prestige
♦ Post WW II journals
   – Increased funding in science
   – Increasing number of scientists
   – Proliferation of journals
Background: Electronic Journals
♦ Before the 1990s
   – Bibliographies and full text databases
   – Improvements in communication technologies
   – Improvements in production technologies
♦ Mid-1990s
  – WWW
  – Full text journals became possible
  – Multimedia and interactive
  – Different business models possible, i.e. open access
Key Drivers
1.   Ubiquitous Internet access and technology
2.   Increasing volume of research
3.   Print publishing cost structures and escalating
     journal prices
4.   Consolidation of commercial publishing
     houses,
5.   Librarians looking for low-cost alternatives to
     spiraling serials prices
6.   New forms and uses of research in electronic
     media, i.e. open source human genome
     sequences
Definitions of Open Access
♦ Budapest/Bethesda/Berlin
   – Free access to electronic research articles in the
      sciences and humanities
   – Read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or link
   – Attribution of author—no copyright transfer
   – Deposit original paper in an open archive
   Alternatively:
   – Open access after 6 months to one year
   – Open access for developing countries
♦ Publishers traditionally have not allowed these
  activities without permission
Open Repositories and Archives
♦ Collections of articles, often by discipline,
  i.e.. Physics
♦ Hosted by institutions, government, i.e. D-
  space at MIT, PubMed at NIH
♦ Free access for all
♦ Standards for meta-data to enable cross-
  search
♦ Threat to primary and secondary
  publishers and aggregators
Open Access Business Models
♦ Free access does not mean cost-free
♦ Open access models shift the payment from the
  reader to the author for electronic access
  -- $300-$1500 article processing fees, paid for by
     research grants
  – Corporate and library fees for affiliated authors’
     paper
  – Grants and subsidies for start-up operations
  – Hybrid models with option for open access for a fee
     to the author
  – Other sources of revenue to support journal
Cost Structures
♦ Digital publishing is key to open access
♦ First copy costs are $2,085 to $4,000
♦ Printing, paper and delivery are a large portion
  of print journals costs
♦ Electronic publishing eliminates 30%
♦ New tools speed up and automate peer review,
  editing=lower first copy costs
♦ Ergo, open access revenue models will work
  with new cost structures
Size of the Open Access
Journals Market
♦ Open Access Directory list 1,106 journals
   – www.doaj.org
♦ Most are single titles, no print
♦ 1999—4,000 electronic journals
♦ 2004—14,147 electronic journals
♦ Estimates of scholarly print journals range from
  15,000 peer-reviewed to 70,000-80,000
  worldwide
♦ Revenues for OA journals are miniscule
Open Access Publishers
♦ BioMed Central
♦ Public Library of Science
♦ Scientific World
♦ Berkeley Electronic Press
♦ Public Knowledge Project
♦ Company of Biologists
Funding Agencies
♦ National Science Foundation
♦ Howard Hughes Medical Institute
♦ Wellcome Trust, UK
♦ Austrian Science Fund
♦ Scholarly Publishing and Academic
 Resources Coalition (SPARC)
Strategic Issues for Publishers
Open a access puts pressure on all
  publishers
♦ Different publishers/different threats
  – Professional associations and societies
     •Mission vs. business
  – Non-profit presses and organizations
     •Mission vs. independence
  – Commercial publishers
     •Pressure on prices and profits
Strategic Issues continued…
♦ Opportunity to rethink publishing strategies
♦ Different publishers/different mix:
   – Move to electronic-only publication
   – Allow free access to archives after six months or one
     year
   – Allow authors to deposit articles in archives
   – Allow free access to developing countries
   – Allow authors to retain copyright
   – Adopt and test a hybrid version of open access
   – Develop new services and benefits for readers
The Future of Open Access
♦ Certain disciplines may be more suitable
  to open access—funding, readership
♦ Hybrid models are more sustainable for
  traditional publishers
♦ Open access will moderate journals prices
♦ Readers and libraries will benefit from
  richer, more useful electronic publications
♦ Both types of publishers will look more
  alike over time
Q&A
Thank you!

www.shore.com/research or
Learned Publishing, April 2004.
Clamb@shore.com

70 lamb

  • 1.
    Open Access Publishing Models Opportunityor Threat to Scholarly and Academic Publishers Christine Lamb May 2004
  • 2.
    Content ♦ Introduction ♦ Background ♦Definitions of Open Access ♦ Open Archives and Repositories ♦ Key Drivers ♦ Open Access Market ♦ Open Access Business Models
  • 3.
    Contents continued…. ♦ CostStructures ♦ Funding Agencies ♦ Open Access Publishers ♦ Strategic Issues for Publishers ♦ The Future of Open Access ♦ Q and A
  • 4.
    Introduction ♦ Open accessjournals provide free access to research articles ♦ Open access has a different business model for electronic journals ♦ Advocates are authors, academics, librarians and readers ♦ Publishers need to heed the messages from the market
  • 5.
    Background: Print journals ♦Earliest journals in the 17th century – Academies and societies – Peer review ♦ Journal Authorship – No payments – Copyright transfer – Indirect rewards of tenure, prestige ♦ Post WW II journals – Increased funding in science – Increasing number of scientists – Proliferation of journals
  • 6.
    Background: Electronic Journals ♦Before the 1990s – Bibliographies and full text databases – Improvements in communication technologies – Improvements in production technologies ♦ Mid-1990s – WWW – Full text journals became possible – Multimedia and interactive – Different business models possible, i.e. open access
  • 7.
    Key Drivers 1. Ubiquitous Internet access and technology 2. Increasing volume of research 3. Print publishing cost structures and escalating journal prices 4. Consolidation of commercial publishing houses, 5. Librarians looking for low-cost alternatives to spiraling serials prices 6. New forms and uses of research in electronic media, i.e. open source human genome sequences
  • 8.
    Definitions of OpenAccess ♦ Budapest/Bethesda/Berlin – Free access to electronic research articles in the sciences and humanities – Read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or link – Attribution of author—no copyright transfer – Deposit original paper in an open archive Alternatively: – Open access after 6 months to one year – Open access for developing countries ♦ Publishers traditionally have not allowed these activities without permission
  • 9.
    Open Repositories andArchives ♦ Collections of articles, often by discipline, i.e.. Physics ♦ Hosted by institutions, government, i.e. D- space at MIT, PubMed at NIH ♦ Free access for all ♦ Standards for meta-data to enable cross- search ♦ Threat to primary and secondary publishers and aggregators
  • 10.
    Open Access BusinessModels ♦ Free access does not mean cost-free ♦ Open access models shift the payment from the reader to the author for electronic access -- $300-$1500 article processing fees, paid for by research grants – Corporate and library fees for affiliated authors’ paper – Grants and subsidies for start-up operations – Hybrid models with option for open access for a fee to the author – Other sources of revenue to support journal
  • 11.
    Cost Structures ♦ Digitalpublishing is key to open access ♦ First copy costs are $2,085 to $4,000 ♦ Printing, paper and delivery are a large portion of print journals costs ♦ Electronic publishing eliminates 30% ♦ New tools speed up and automate peer review, editing=lower first copy costs ♦ Ergo, open access revenue models will work with new cost structures
  • 12.
    Size of theOpen Access Journals Market ♦ Open Access Directory list 1,106 journals – www.doaj.org ♦ Most are single titles, no print ♦ 1999—4,000 electronic journals ♦ 2004—14,147 electronic journals ♦ Estimates of scholarly print journals range from 15,000 peer-reviewed to 70,000-80,000 worldwide ♦ Revenues for OA journals are miniscule
  • 13.
    Open Access Publishers ♦BioMed Central ♦ Public Library of Science ♦ Scientific World ♦ Berkeley Electronic Press ♦ Public Knowledge Project ♦ Company of Biologists
  • 14.
    Funding Agencies ♦ NationalScience Foundation ♦ Howard Hughes Medical Institute ♦ Wellcome Trust, UK ♦ Austrian Science Fund ♦ Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)
  • 15.
    Strategic Issues forPublishers Open a access puts pressure on all publishers ♦ Different publishers/different threats – Professional associations and societies •Mission vs. business – Non-profit presses and organizations •Mission vs. independence – Commercial publishers •Pressure on prices and profits
  • 16.
    Strategic Issues continued… ♦Opportunity to rethink publishing strategies ♦ Different publishers/different mix: – Move to electronic-only publication – Allow free access to archives after six months or one year – Allow authors to deposit articles in archives – Allow free access to developing countries – Allow authors to retain copyright – Adopt and test a hybrid version of open access – Develop new services and benefits for readers
  • 17.
    The Future ofOpen Access ♦ Certain disciplines may be more suitable to open access—funding, readership ♦ Hybrid models are more sustainable for traditional publishers ♦ Open access will moderate journals prices ♦ Readers and libraries will benefit from richer, more useful electronic publications ♦ Both types of publishers will look more alike over time
  • 18.
  • 19.
    Thank you! www.shore.com/research or LearnedPublishing, April 2004. Clamb@shore.com