Von: Ralf Schimmer
Gesendet: Dienstag, 28. April 2015 10:01


*** Apologies for cross-posting ***

Press release at: http://www.mpg.de/9202262/area-wide-transition-open-access

Area-wide transition to open access is possible

A new study calculates a redeployment of funds in Open Access

April 27, 2015

The Max Planck Digital Library has put forward a study on the
transformation of the subscription-driven system for scientific
publications to an Open Access model. For the first time, quantitative
parameters are presented showing that the liberation of scholarly
literature is possible at no extra costs.

According to market analyses, annual turnovers of academic publishers
amount to approximately EUR 7.6 billion. This money comes
predominantly from publicly funded scientific libraries as they
purchase subscriptions or licenses in order to provide access to
scientific journals for their customers. Since more than a decade the
Open Access movement, in which the Max Planck Society plays a major
role, has been demanding free and immediate access to the results of
academic research on the internet.

Open Access publishers ensure their financial sustainability through
charging publication fees: Not readers but rather authors or their
institutions or funders are supposed to pay for publications. While
numerous publishers have already adopted an Open Access business model
during the last few years, the share of openly available scientific
articles is still only at a level of some 13%.

“We need to create an efficient and widely budget-neutral transition
which offers fresh incentives to traditional publishers to cooperate
and transfer established journals to Open Access,” says Martin
Stratmann, President of the Max Planck Society.

The study which has now been presented by the Max Planck Digital
Library is investigating the question whether the previously used
subscription budgets would be sufficient to fund the Open Access
publication charges and thus bring about a complete transition of
academic publishing. The paper, entitled Disrupting the subscription
journal’s business model for the necessary large-scale transformation
to open access, concludes that such a transition would be possible at
no extra costs. “An internationally concerted shifting of subscription
budgets is possible at no financial risk, maybe even at lower overall
costs”, says main author Ralf Schimmer.

The paper can be accessed on the institutional repository of the Max
Planck Society (MPG.PuRe) at DOI:

http://dx.doi.org/10.17617/1.3

Dr. Ralf Schimmer
Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL)
Amalienstr. 33
80799 Muenchen, Germany
Tel. +49 89 38602-261
Fax +49 89 38602-290
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.mpdl.mpg.de