Dear everybody,
Here's my cent's worth ...
1. I agree with some people's comments regarding the subscription costs and
page charges for developing countries:
A quick look at the top 10 ranking ecology journals shows that none of them
takes into account that developing country institutions and individuals are
less $ strong. None of them charges lower fees for these countries. In fact,
the subscriptions for these areas are even higher than for the US and Europe.
If almost all commodities (except maybe for bmw's and mercedeses) are sold
for a price according to local buying power, why not also journal subscriptions?
2. Free access to information for all is the ideal state. Also in the ideal
state my fridge would never be empty, and pigs had wings. Alas, it is not so.
Publishing journals takes time and effort, two precious commodities that most
people do not have enough of. I just do not believe that there are enough
altruistic people around sacrificing their nights and weekends to run the show.
However, it may be asked why subscription prices and page charges between
journals differ so much? How can one journal ask for only $5.00 per page, and
another one $50.00 or more? Why do the subscription costs for the ten highest
ranking journals differ by thousands of dollars? Shouldn't market forces lead
to the best price for the product?
But I am afraid that the product is not simply the publication of ones paper.
The real product that one pays for is the publication of ones paper in a
certain journal with a certain ranking. And it is not just publish or perish,
but publish high or perish. And therefore the people who can afford it are
willing to pay the inflated prices of some journals.
3. And by the way, I am also one of those who has to make use of the help of
a friend to get online access to journals. Thus, affectively undermining the
journals price policy. Which forces them again to increase their prices that
are mainly paid by the universities. It would be much nicer if my organization
had enough funding to pay the subscriptions themselves. The way it goes now,
its just one big weird shifting of money from one pot to the next.
Regards, Michael
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