Re: cost of peer review and electronic distribution of scholarly papers

["Pippa Smart" <pippa.smart@googlemail.com>]

Richard,

On the peer review issue: the only research I am aware of 
estimates the cost of peer reviewing - not the cost of 
implementing a system to do this (I assume you are thinking of 
the editorial office cost to set up such a system?).

Commercial publishers could probably give some indication, as 
they fund editorial offices, whose main duty is the 
processing/managing of the peer review for the journal - their 
financial support frequently covers staff, running expenses 
(post, telephone, etc.), software (e.g. ScholarOne) and sometimes 
hardware. Are there any publishers out there willing to give an 
indication of their costs?

If you (or anyone on this list) is interested in estimates of the 
time/cost to review journal articles, then the report "RESEARCH 
COMMUNICATION COSTS IN AUSTRALIA: EMERGING OPPORTUNITIES AND 
BENEFITS" by the Australian Department of Education, Science and 
Training is of interest (and cites other research on the topic). 
(horrible URL - 
http://www.dest.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/0ACB271F-EA7D-4FAF-B3F7-0381F441B175/13935/DEST_Research_Communications_Cost_Report_Sept2006.pdf)

They state that "On a per item basis, it is estimated that in 
Australian higher education institutions it costs around AUD 
1,700 to peer review of each journal article, AUD 1,500 to peer 
review each refereed conference paper or book chapter, and AUD 
6,000 to peer review each research monograph." and they cite 
other reserach by Tenopir and King, Morris, etc.

I'd be interested in your findings.
Pippa

pippa.smart@gmail.com