On Wed, 14 Jan 2004, Thomas Krichel wrote: > $1500 per paper should be amply sufficient to fund the > publishing operation. I suggest that libraries support other > ventures with more moderate charges.
Thomas, did you mean $500 ? Otherwise your posting does not quite make sense. (PLoS is proposing $1500.) If you meant $500 I remind you that PLoS is aiming explicitly for the high (quality, impact, prestige) end of science publishing (the level of Nature and Science) on the assumption that if the high end can be won over to OA journals, the rest will follow suit. $1500 may well cover extra enhancements that make the transition at the high end more appealing to authors at this time. If and when there is a wholesale transition from TA to OA, there can also be some downsizing to just the essentials, in order to minimise unnecessary costs. "Separating Quality-Control Service-Providing from Document-Providing" http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/0466.html "Distinguishing the Essentials from the Optional Add-Ons" http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/1437.html "The True Cost of the Essentials (Implementing Peer Review)" http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/0303.html "The True Cost of the Essentials http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/1973.html "Re: The True Cost of the Essentials (Implementing Peer Review - NOT!)" http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/1966.html "Journal expenses and publication costs" http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/2589 "Re: Scientific publishing is not just about administering peer-review" http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/3069.html "Author Publication Charge Debate" http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/1387.html Stevan Harnad NOTE: A complete archive of the ongoing discussion of providing open access to the peer-reviewed research literature online (1998-2004) is available at the American Scientist Open Access Forum: To join the Forum: http://amsci-forum.amsci.org/archives/American-Scientist-Open-Access-Forum.html Post discussion to: american-scientist-open-access-fo...@amsci.org Hypermail Archive: http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/index.html Unified Dual Open-Access-Provision Policy: BOAI-2 ("gold"): Publish your article in a suitable open-access journal whenever one exists. http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/boaifaq.htm#journals BOAI-1 ("green"): Otherwise, publish your article in a suitable toll-access journal and also self-archive it. http://www.eprints.org/self-faq/ http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml http://www.eprints.org/signup/sign.php