Re: Failing business models

From: Dana Roth <dzrlib_at_LIBRARY.CALTECH.EDU>
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 12:00:58 -0700

Dana Roth writes that

"The primary problem with the current system is the failing business
model followed by many commercial publishers."

Jan Velterop states:

"I presume she (actually he, but no offense taken) means the
subscription model. Which, incidentally, is not just used by commercial
publishers but also by not-for-profit ones. ... But it's not the use of
the subscription model by commercial publishers that is the 'primary
problem'. It is the fact that the subscription system cannot cope with
the unrelenting growth of scientific articles that is being produced
worldwide."

Steve Hitchcock states:

"it is important to question the assumptions implicit in this
subscription vs gold scenario before blindly accepting it on the basis
that subscriptions are dysfunctional."

Dana Roth replys:

Isn't effective lasting change best accomplished by a series of
agreeable steps?

It would appear that no one seems aware of the very effective
subscription model currently followed by several small societies (e.g.,
Electrochemical Society, Society of Neuroscience, American Society of
Clinical Investigation). Their business model provides subscriptions at
a very reasonable cost combined with a modest author
submission/publication fee.

This was the model followed for many years by some major societies
(e.g., ACS, APS) until competition with commerical publishers, that
never required author publication charges, forced them to adopt the
current 'reader pays' subscription model.

Thus, the Gold vs Green discussion completely avoids the most obvious
solution to the 'serials crisis'.

The primary problem with the current system is the failing business
model followed by many commercial publishers ... whereby subscription
costs are completely unrelated to the cost of production and usefulness.

Recent comparisons of the cost/article/Impact Factor between commercial
and society published journals, highlight these gross disparities.

Dana Roth
Caltech
Received on Fri Apr 06 2007 - 03:35:45 BST