From: Stevan Harnad <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2017 11:24:21 -0400 On Jun 28, 2017, at 9:57 AM, Andrew Odlyzko <[log in to unmask]> wrote: we could operate an adequate scholarly publishing business, with the > current level of peer review, at $300 per article, or 10% what it costs > Elsevier. The main obstacle is inertia. "I think that the true figure for peer-review implementation alone across all refereed journals probably averages closer to $200 per article, or even lower. Hence, quality-control costs account for only 10% of the collective tolls actually being paid per article.” *Nature* *410*, 1024-1025 (*26 April 2001*) | doi:10.1038/35074210 https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v410/n6832/full/4101024a0.html Inertia indeed, on the part of the publishing industry, predictably, but on the part of the research community, deplorably… *Stevan Harnad* On Wed, Jun 28, 2017 at 9:57 AM, Andrew Odlyzko <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Perhaps a Kazhakstani graduate student can provide simple distribution > of files at a very low cost. But once you get into providing anything > resembling serious curation, and even more when you get into peer review, > costs do mount up. For example, arXiv costs about $10 per preprint > submitted (if we divide the annual cost of the arXiv by the number of > new submissions, and so don't worry about the accounting niceties of > splitting the costs between handling new and old papers). For a few > million papers per year for all of scholarly publishing, this gets > beyond the capability of a Kazhakstani graduate student. > > > This rough estimate of $10 per preprint for arXiv, and others to be quoted, > are all from the paper "Open Access, library and publisher competition, and > the evolution of general commerce," Evaluation Review, vol. 39, no. 1, > Feb. 2015, pp. 130-163, > > http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0193841X13514751 > > and (for those who can't get inside the paywall), a preprint is at > > http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~odlyzko/doc/libpubcomp.pdf > > Going beyond preprint distribution (and the very light level of screening > by volunteer editors, which does exist at arXiv, at no monetary cost), > Elsevier collects about $5,000 in total on average for each article they > publish. About $2,000 is their profit, and the remaining $3,000 covers > what they claim are necessary costs. As many (including your truly) have > been arguing for a couple of decades, the necessity of those costs (leaving > the profit question aside) is extremely questionable, and we now have lots > of examples of lower cost journals. It seems clear (some estimates and > references in the paper cited above) that we could operate an adequate > scholarly publishing business, with the current level of peer review, > at $300 per article, or 10% what it costs Elsevier. The main obstacle > is inertia. > > Andrew