From: Anthony Watkinson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 16:50:00 +0000

I probably go even further back than Jan and Joe and I do remember that when
BMC started, it was suggested (by them) not only that their author charges
would go down under the influence of competition from whatever it was they
started with but also that they intended to move to a submission fee when
they had become established. I do not think they planned a two tier
approach.

Anthony

-----Original Message-----
From: LibLicense-L Discussion Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of LIBLICENSE
Sent: 03 December 2011 03:59
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Subject: Re: Future of the Subscription Model

From: "Boyter, Leslie" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2011 14:06:45 -0800

Joe,

A small point in response to one small aspect of your last message
(not to argue, just to provide a potential solution):

If colleges/universities only charged fees to accepted students, I
would have saved a lot of money and I would have applied to more
programs. That's not the case (at least not at most
colleges/universities I know of). Alternatively, potential students
can apply for waivers (oftentimes with rather stringent requirements),
but it seems few "average" people would qualify for the waivers (at
least the waiver requirements I saw).

Now, I'm not suggesting colleges/universities have the best economic
systems (ha!), but it seems the application process could easily be
adapted to work for author-pays journal submissions.

Therefore, I believe there is a relatively simple "fix" for the
author-pays economic situation you describe. Every author is required
to pay a small fee for submitting (call it an administrative fee if
you like, or perhaps a review fee). Accepted authors may or may not
have to pay an additional fee (it would depend on whether or not
submission fees covered enough of the costs). This would spread the
costs out across all submissions instead of just the accepted
submissions. This may also have the (un)intended consequence of
weeding out submissions that are less-than-qualified and/or would lead
authors to be choosier about where they submit their articles (much
like being choosy about which college applications to fill out).

Additionally, keeping the waivers for university applications in mind,
it might be possible to even the playing field a little for authors
who could not possibly pay the full fee. I do not currently have a
grand idea regarding what would qualify someone for a waiver (or maybe
a sliding-scale fee), but people more knowledgeable than myself can
figure that out.

I may be mis-remembering, but I believe I read something about such an
author-pays system a while back in one of the many, many e-mails about
OA journals. Regardless, I think it's fairly workable and would help
to spread costs a little more reasonably. I'm sure you will make it
painfully obvious where the inaccuracies in my suggestion(s) lie. I
look forward to your response. :)


BTW: I very much enjoy reading your messages. Whether or not I agree
with you, you always make me think about things a little differently.

~Leslie

Leslie R Boyter
Serials Specialist
Washington State Library
[log in to unmask]
360-704-5220