RE: Suber's refutation of universities paying more for OA

["William Walters" <William.Walters@millersville.edu>]

It's important to keep in mind that while those OA journals that 
don't charge publication fees represent a significant proportion 
of all OA journal TITLES, they account for a much lower 
proporation of all OA articles.

I did a quick analysis for the field of cell biology.  Of the 18 
cell biology journals listed in the Directory of Open Access 
Journals, eight do not charge publication fees.  However, many of 
these journals publish only a handful of articles per year. 
Four of the eight published fewer than 20 articles in 2005, and 
all eight together published just 281 articles in 2005 -- less 
than two-thirds the number that appeared in PLoS Biology that 
same year.

While the no-fee journals make up a significant proportion of all 
Open Access titles, they account for a much smaller proportion of 
all OA articles.  The recent launch of several new PLoS journals 
may further reduce the proportion of Open Access articles that 
are published in the no-fee journals.

I'd question whether the no-fee journals, which operate largely 
on a volunteer basis, can handle the volume of research output 
that would be required in a truly Open Access environment.

Bill

William H. Walters, PhD
Assistant Professor of Librarianship
Collection Development Librarian
Helen A. Ganser Library
Millersville University
Millersville, PA 17551-0302
(717) 871-2063