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6.10. The research community, in the UK and worldwide, is supported by systems which provide effective and high-quality channels through which they can publish and disseminate their findings, and which ensures that those findings are subject to rigorous peer review. Effective communication of quality-assured findings and
results requires a series of activities that involve significant costs. In order to meet this criterion, arrangements must be in place to enable publishers (whether they are in the commercial or the not-for-profit sector) to meet the legitimate costs of peer review, production, and marketing, as well as high standards of presentation, discoverability and navigation, together with the kinds of linking and enrichment of texts (‘semantic publishing’) that researchers and other readers increasingly expect. Publishers also need to generate surpluses for investment in innovation and new services; for distribution as profits to shareholders; and—for learned societies in particular—to support scholarly (and a wide range of related) activities for the benefit of their members and the wider communities that they serve. Finally, publishers need to take account of the sustained rise—3% to 4% a year—in the number of articles submitted to and published by them.
6.11. A number of studies have attempted to assess the costs involved in publishing peer-reviewed articles in journals. A report in 2008[1] demonstrated that there are considerable variations in costs per article between different journals, depending on the submission numbers; delivery formats (digital-only, print-plus-digital, or print-only); indirect cost structures; the level of surpluses generated by different publishers; and, above all, the rejection rate (i.e., the relationship between the number of articles submitted for peer review and the number that are finally published). Costs per article published, therefore, tend to be much higher for major journals with high submission and rejection rates—that is, those where there is the fiercest competition among researchers to publish their articles—than for those with lower rates.[2]
6.12. Subsequent reports also suggest that the costs for open access journals average between £1.5k and £2k,[3] which is broadly in line with the average level of APCs paid by the Wellcome Trust in 2010 , at just under £1.5k. The key point here is that no form of publishing is cost-free; and the key requirement is therefore that
- ↑ Activities, costs and funding flows in the scholarly communications process in the UK, RIN, 2008.The report estimated that costs per article ranged from c£10k to c£2k, with an average of £2.8k
- ↑ The report estimated that costs per article ranged from c£10k to c£2k, with an average of £2.8k excluding the non-cash cost of the time spent by researchers and others in undertaking peer review. Houghton, J et al, Economic Implications of Alternative Scholarly Publishing Models, JISC, 2009 produced averages of between £3.2k and £2.3k for subscription-based journals, depending on whether they were published e-only, print-only, or in both formats.
- ↑ Houghton J et al, op cit; Heading for the Open Road: costs and benefits of transitions in scholarly communications, RIN, PRC, Wellcome Trust, JISC, RLUK, 2011. See also Solomon, D, and Björk, B-Christer,. A study of Open Access Journals using article processing charges. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology , which suggests an average level of APCs for open access journals (including those published at very low cost in developing countries) of just over $900. It is difficult to judge – opinions differ – whether costs for open access journals are on average likely to rise as higher status journals join the open access ranks; or to fall as new entrants come into the market.
