RE: NFP publishing

["Peter Banks" <pbanks@diabetes.org>]

David Prosser wrote: "In a sense it is not really worth arguing 
about as only a tiny fraction of the 20,000 or so peer-review 
journals published world-wide make any significant advertising 
revenue."

Actually, it is worth arguing about, since you (and the OA 
movement in general) appear to grossly underestimate the total 
advertising revenue and pages in medical journals. According to 
the research form PERQ-HCI, there was about $850 million in 
advertising in medical, dental, and nursing journals in 2005. The 
revenue comes from more than 600 journals, from giants like JAMA 
and NEJM to niche titles like Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery. 
Not all of the advertising money will be lost under OA, of 
course--but much will, either because journals no longer offer an 
exclusive path to an audience, or because some journals refuse 
advertising on principle (PLoS Medicine, for example).

I don't think jeopardizing nearly a billion dollars in revenue is 
a trivial concern for an industry--especially not one thinking of 
giving up its other main source of funding, subscriptions. There 
are always bake sales, I guess, or wealthy benefactors!

Peter Banks
Publisher
American Diabetes Association
Email: pbanks@diabetes.org