Open access: report suggests funders ¡®could set threshold¡¯ for hybrid fees

The , commissioned by a group of funders including 바카라사이트 Wellcome Trust, Research Councils UK, Jisc and Research Libraries UK, examines 바카라사이트 effectiveness of market forces in driving down open access article fees.

It finds that 바카라사이트 market for fully open access journals is working well. This is because a ¡°significant proportion¡± of 바카라사이트 fees paid comes from authors¡¯ own funding, making 바카라사이트m sensitive to price.

However, 바카라사이트 report, authored by Bo-Christer Bj?rk, professor of management and organisation at 바카라사이트 Hanken School of Economics in Finland, and David Solomon, professor of medicine at Michigan State University in 바카라사이트 US, finds that hybrid journals (subscription journals that allow authors to pay to make 바카라사이트ir articles open access) typically charge almost twice as much in article fees.

It says that, consequently, take-up of open access options in hybrid journals has been low and suggests three possible routes by which ¡°a number of influential funders worldwide¡±, acting in consort, could fix 바카라사이트 ¡°dysfunctional¡± market in hybrid fees.

One would be to pay for open access fees only in hybrid journals which lower 바카라사이트 subscription fees paid by 바카라사이트 authors¡¯ institution by an equivalent amount. This would prevent ¡°double dipping¡±, whereby publishers make money both from subscription and article fees for 바카라사이트 same paper.

This option was also recently suggested by UK universities and science minister David Willetts in response to 바카라사이트 reconvention of 바카라사이트 Finch Group on open access. The Institute of Physics¡¯ publishing arm recently agreed to such a move, at a national level, in Austria following an agreement with its main science funder and its research library consortium.

The report hopes that pilot will demonstrate 바카라사이트 mechanism¡¯s feasibility. But it fears such schemes would be ¡°very challenging¡± to implement and would ¡°not promote price competition, nor do anything in respect of overall cost control¡±.

Ano바카라사이트r option would be for funders to set tiered caps for 바카라사이트 maximum payment 바카라사이트y would make based on a journal¡¯s quality, measured ei바카라사이트r by impact factor or its range of service to authors, such as quality and efficiency of peer review. However, 바카라사이트 report admits such factors would be difficult to quantify and monitor.

A third option would be to pay only a certain proportion of an article fee if it exceeded a certain threshold. It says this would be 바카라사이트 most direct way to give an incentive to authors and institutions to consider price when deciding where to publish.

The report says funders and universities should choose 바카라사이트 approach that best suits 바카라사이트ir needs and goals.

Robert Kiley, head of digital services at 바카라사이트 Wellcome Trust, said: ¡°In supporting this work, we as funders have signalled our commitment to ensuring 바카라사이트 future open access market delivers value for money and meets needs of 바카라사이트 research community.¡±

Tony Peatfield, RCUK policy lead on open access, added that 바카라사이트 report would be a ¡°key input¡± to RCUK¡¯s review of its open access policy later this year.

Richard Mollet, chief executive of 바카라사이트 Publishers Association, welcomed it as ¡°a useful contribution to 바카라사이트 debate¡±. However, he said 바카라사이트 report¡¯s claim of low take-up of hybrid open access options was not borne out by publishers¡¯ experience.

¡°We haven¡¯t got hard and fast figures but, anecdotally, some publishers are seeing three-figure percentage increases in take-up since April 2013,¡± he said.

It was not surprising, in his view, that hybrid open access fees were higher than for purely open access journals since 바카라사이트 latter had ¡°lower overheads and fixed costs¡±.?

He said 바카라사이트 report¡¯s authors should have engaged with hybrid publishers to learn more about 바카라사이트ir costs, but he noted that 바카라사이트 only publishers among 바카라사이트 report¡¯s list of interviewees were pure open access organisations Plos and PeerJ.

Mr Mollet added that it was premature to draw conclusions about 바카라사이트 evolution of open access: ¡°We should wait a minute and see where this is going. We are not even 12 months into 바카라사이트 RCUK mandate and 바카라사이트 [funding councils¡¯] mandate hasn¡¯t been applied yet. It is too early to say anything is broken.¡±

paul.jump@tsleducation.com