SCOAP3

[Gene Sprouse <sprouse@ridge.aps.org>]

SCOAP3 is an initiative to convert all of the major high energy 
physics (HEP) journals to Open Access.  It would redirect library 
funds for HEP journals to a consortium that would then negotiate 
with publishers in order to reach the OA goals.  Although the 
SCOAP3 initiative sails under the banner of Open Access, it 
brings in its wake the prospect of reducing the aggregate cost to 
libraries of HEP journals. The costs of the 5 target journals are 
listed below:

JOURNAL       		$/article	$/citation	Publisher
Phys. Rev. D          	1.69		0.47         	APS
JHEP                 	1.79		0.43        	SISSA
Phys. Lett. B        	10.98		2.68         	Elsevier
Euro. Phys. Jour. C 	18.71        	7.06		Springer
Nucl. Phys. B       	32.33        	6.20		Elsevier

(Data from www.journalprices.com)

To raise $3.7M, the US part of the $14M of consortium funding, 
SCOAP3 is negotiating with US institutions involved in HEP 
research. We estimate that only about 1/3 of the US subscription 
revenue for Physical Review D comes from these institutions, so 
if only they are involved, each must be asked to triple what it 
now pays for PRD, presumably with offsetting savings from other 
journals.  Of course SCOAP3 would also benefit non-contributing 
institutions and the general public.

APS has a mandate to publish in all physics disciplines. As a 
service to the physics community we have kept our prices as low 
as possible, to encourage broad distribution of our content. 
However, if we are to continue to provide quality peer review, 
distribution, and archiving of physics research, we must recover 
our costs. The current subscription-based funding model, though 
far from perfect, has provided adequate and stable funding, in 
harmony with the arXiv and with our generous self-archiving 
provisions.  An obvious concern is that once the journals are 
freely available, some libraries might divert their now voluntary 
contributions from SCOAP3 to other more pressing needs, because 
doing so would bring no immediate consequences. We are gravely 
concerned about the difficulty of reassembling our subscription 
model were SCOAP3 to fail.

The funding and sustainability of the SCOAP3 model have yet to be 
developed and demonstrated. If they can be, then APS would be 
willing to make PRD freely available on our site.

Gene D. Sprouse
Editor-in-Chief, American Physical Society

Joseph W. Serene
Treasurer and Publisher, American Physical Society