Don't Count on Saving Money Yet

Peter Suber of Open Access News tries to figure out if OA publishing is going to be any less expensive than subscription journals. The problem, he says, is that there's no solid data on costs, and most journals aren't that transparent. UK-based Research Information Network estimated last year that it costs $7,800 to publish and distribute a print article today, but that moving to an OA model might not be any cheaper, considering author-side payment. "Perhaps the take-home point here is that either everyone has consistently underestimated the true costs of publishing a scholarly paper, or publishers (both traditional subscription publishers and OA publishers) still have some way to go in reducing their costs if OA is to prove more affordable than the subscription system," Suber says.