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The economics of open access publishing Bo-Christer Björk UNICA seminar Helsinki 19.5.2006. Effects of Internet. Distribution is going electronic Also distribution models are changing. Where to draw the line?. Which process Using what business model What type of cost
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The economics of open access publishing Bo-Christer Björk UNICA seminar Helsinki 19.5.2006 Björk 2006
Effects of Internet • Distribution is going electronic • Also distribution models are changing Björk 2006
Where to draw the line? • Which process • Using what business model • What type of cost • Is cost equal to price? • Cost incurred by whom? Björk 2006
Manuscript Accepted manuscript Queue for publishing Review manuscript Reviewers' comments Index article Revise manuscript Publish article in journal issue Revised manuscript Publish article Index web source on the web Author charge Subscription Acquire access rights Make journal available inside university Search for and retrieve article Read article Which process Björk 2006
Using what business model Björk 2006
What type of cost • First copy cost • Distribution costs • Overhead costs of publisher • Time costs of readers • Opportunity costs Björk 2006
is cost equal to price? • Publisher revenue = cost + profit • In the short run yes • In the long run more competition could lower costs • Example mobile telephone bills Björk 2006
Cost incurred by whom • Cost of publisher • Cost of readers • Overhead cost of libraries • Cost of reviewers time Björk 2006
Number of titles Number of articles Share electronic OA journals share OA articles share OA copies in repositories, web pages etc. 25000 – 50000 1, 5 – 2 million > 50 % 4-5 % 1-2 % 15-20 % Getting the numbers right Björk 2006
Comparative effects of different business models Life-cycle costs of current readership level Benefits from increased readership OA Björk 2006
The free rider problem • Has been proposed as argument against author charges • Some research intensive institutes might end up paying more than currently • Lesser institutes and industry would get a free rid Björk 2006
But! • The argument can be turned around • Only a small proportion of subscription money comes from the free riders anyway • It would be socially beneficial if these parties would start to use research results more Björk 2006
”Level playing field” Björk 2006
REFERENCES For a number of publications see Homepages of the OACS project http://www.oacs.shh.fi/publications.html Björk 2006