From: Heather Morrison <[log in to unmask]> Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:06:28 -0800 Joe Esposito, commenting on the open access article processing fee earlier, said: "Will the $1,200 author fee drop to $1,000 under market pressure? Why not to $800? Why not $600? Some people working in this field believe that $600 is breakeven. I don't know about that, but suppose it's true. Doesn't this mean that all these competitors move out of the First World to get less expensive labor? And if prices still have downward pressure, what kind of temptation will there be for reducing some of the services? Will there be even less rigorous peer review?" Comments: First, I would like to highlight that this an industry insider telling us that some in the field believe a $600 OA article processing fee would be breakeven for current production practices. This is something to keep in mind when considering the $3,000 hybrid fees offered by some. Considering that Joe was from the for-profit sector, it seems likely that lower article processing fees could be a possibility for the not-for-profits. Second, it is nonsense to think that rigorous peer review has anything to do with publisher services. It is scholars who perform the peer review, at no cost to publishers. Third, in a competitive market producers compete on quality as well as price. Fourth, there is indeed room for the developing world as the market opens up. My perspective is that while some current companies may go there for cheaper labour, there is room for quality scholarly publishing services to be developed by people in the third world, and this a good thing for all of us. The above-average profits of a few large publishers under the current system do indeed suggest that there is room for competition for an open access marketplace. To me, this suggests that we do not need to choose between open access and affordability in scholarly publishing: we can have both. best, Heather Morrison, MLIS Doctoral Candidate, Simon Fraser University School of Communication http://pages.cmns.sfu.ca/heather-morrison/ The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com