Author-pays model: more common among subscription than open access journals

[Heather Morrison <heatherm@eln.bc.ca>]

Recent comments on the list appear to be based on the myth that 
open access publishing is the same as the article processing fee 
or "author pays" model.

Excerpt from a 2005 ALPSP-sponsored study by Kaufman-Wills, "The 
Facts about Open Access:

"On the financial side, we were very surprised to find just how 
few of the Open Access journals raise any author-side charges at 
all; in fact, author charges are considerably more common (in the 
form of page charges, colour charges, reprint charges, etc) among 
subscription journals".  (From the Overview).  The report is 
available for free download from:

http://www.alpsp.org/ngen_public/article.asp?id=200&did=47&aid=270&st=&oaid=-1

For more recent research illustrating that the vast majority of OA
journals do not charge article processing fees, see Open Access News:
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2007/12/new-data-showing-that-most-oa-journals.html

Any opinion expressed in this e-mail is that of the author alone, and
does not represent the opinion or policy of BC Electronic Library
Network or Simon Fraser University Library.

Heather Morrison, MLIS
The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com