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 To: [log in to unmask] 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