Should publishers offer OA?Thomas J. WalkerUniversity of Florida

Outline• OA models for publishers

• Two BioOne publishers that offer OA

• What BioOne publishers should do

Who benefits from open access?

• Researchers

• Teachers

• Students

• The public

Who is afraid of open access?

• Most publishers

Open Access models

• Author self-archiving

Open Access models

• Author self-archiving

• OA sold by the article(=“hybrid model”)

PNAS3 Apr 2007 issue

$1100 price of OA per article

24% (16 of the 68 articles

in this issue are OA)

PNAS3 Apr 2007 issue

$1100 price of OA per article

24%OA

All articles freelyweb accessible6 months after

publication

G. Eysenbach. 2006. The open access advantage. J Med Internet Res 8(2).

Citations to articles published in PNAS in last half of 2004

Open Access models

• Author self-archiving

• OA sold by the article(=“hybrid model”)

• 100% OA

FloridaEntomological

Society 100% OA since 1994

Florida Entomological Society• 1993 OA endorsed• 1994 OA via PDF to all articles (1994 forward)

Florida Entomological Society• 1993 OA endorsed• 1994 OA via PDF to all articles (1994 forward)

• 1999 OA to complete back-file (1917-1993)

FES: Revenues from library subscriptions

0

2500

5000

7500

10000

12500

15000

17500

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Rev

enue

s (c

onst

ant $

$)

Florida Entomological Society• 1993 OA endorsed• 1994 OA via PDF to all articles (1994 forward)

• 1999 OA to complete back file (1917-1993)

• 2001 Obligatory OA fees

Florida EntomologistObligatory OA fees

Articles $100

Scientific notes $ 50

FES: Initial year of OA fees

0

2500

5000

7500

10000

12500

15000

17500

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Rev

enue

s (c

onst

ant $

$)

Net OA fees

Library subscriptions

Florida Entomological Society• 1993 OA endorsed• 1994 OA via PDF to all articles (1994 forward)

• 1999 OA to complete back file (1917-1993)

• 2001 Obligatory OA fees• 2002 OA on BioOne (2002 forward)

FES: Summary of OA revenue effects

0

2500

5000

7500

10000

12500

15000

17500

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Rev

enue

s (c

onst

ant $

$)

Start-up costs for BioOne

Net OA fees

Library subscriptions

Entomological Society

of Americacurrently ca. 67% OA

Entomological Society of America

• 1995 GB approves OA sales

• 1997 GB cancels approval

• 1999 GB approves OA sales again

• 2000 OA sales begin!

ESA: Percentage of authors buying OA

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Au

tho

rs b

uyi

ng

OA

(%

)

Envir Entomol

J Med Entomol

Ann Entomol Soc Am

J Econ Entomol

Sum of journals

ESA: Gross revenues from OA sales

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Au

tho

rs b

uyi

ng

OA

(%

)

$0

$10,000

$20,000

$30,000

$40,000

$50,000

$60,000

$70,000

$80,000

$90,000

Gro

ss O

A I

nco

me

(US

D)

Percentage of authors buying OA

Gross OA income

How ESA’s hybrid model generated >$74,000 per year

Year No. of OA Average articles price

2004 550 $143

2005 510 $146

2006 537 $150

ESA price for OA by the article = 75% of the cost of 100 paper reprints

Current prices of OA by the article

Entomological Society of America [ESA] (1 to 20 pages) $55 to $314 Annals of the Entomological Society of America

Journal of Economic EntomologyEnvironmental EntomologyJournal of Medical Entomology

Current prices of OA by the article

Entomological Society of America [ESA] (1 to 20 pages) $55 to $314 Annals of the Entomological Society of America

Journal of Economic EntomologyEnvironmental EntomologyJournal of Medical Entomology

American Society of Limnology and Oceanography [ASLO] $350 Limnology and Oceanography Limnology and Oceanography: Methods

National Academy of Sciences $1100Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

Company of Biologists $2560Journal of Experimental BiologyDevelopmentJournal of Cell Science

Springer $3000 OpenChoice

Elsevier $3000 Sponsored Article program

Taylor & Francis $3100 iOpenAccess

What BioOne publishers should do….

• Sell OA to your authors at a fair price

Setting the price of OA by the article

• Price too high– Authors/members will recognize the attempt to profiteer– Service will not be profitable

Setting the price of OA by the article

• Price too high– Authors/members will recognize the attempt to profiteer– Service will not be profitable

• Price too low– So many will buy OA that restricted-access revenues

will be threatened

What BioOne publishers should do….

• Sell OA to your authors at a fair price

• Provide free access to electronic back-files

Summary

Society-based publishersshould be fiscally responsible

facilitators of OA, not opponents.

For more on these topics, find my home page (http://tjwalker.ifas.ufl.edu) and click on “Web access to traditionally published journals”