From: Heather Morrison <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2012 11:59:15 -0700

The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP)
just released a report called: The potential effect of making journals
free after a six month embargo.  Conclusions are that: "the impact on
all publishers’ revenues would be considerable" and "It is strongly
recommended that no mandate is issued on making all or most journal
articles available free of charge after a six month embargo until both
libraries and publishers have had time to understand the issues better
and have together taken steps to explore alternatives to a fully open
access publishing model which could be mutually attractive".

Comment - in brief

This post will focus on the second argument, that time is needed to
explore alternatives to a fully open access publishing model. In
brief, both libraries and publishers have been in discussions about
the need to transition to an appropriate publishing system for the
World Wide Web for at least a decade and a half - ALPSP itself was
talking about this at least as early as 1997. Most of us have moved
far beyond the discussions stage. Libraries are actively providing
support for open access publishing, including hosting and support
services for faculty and society publishing and funds for article
processing fees.

There are close to 8,000 fully open access journals listed in DOAJ -
many in the humanities and social sciences - including commercial
journals that are turning a healthy profit, illustrating that open
access is a viable business model. There are a great many supports
available for publishers wishing to move to open access, including
David Solomon's Developing open access journals: a practical guide and
the SPARC guide on income models for open access. If publishers have
not yet made the switch to open access, this is a clear indication
that discussions and support for change is not enough; public policy
is needed.

Details & links:
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.ca/2012/06/society-publishers-time-to-quit-whining.html

best,

Heather Morrison