Ah, but remember that many (most?) articles -- especially in the sciences -- contain tables and illustrations. Getting those formatted -- or even getting authors to read, understand and apply instructions is not a trivial task. I suspect there was always be editing and formatting to do. And then, in today's world, comes the issue of checking all the URLs in the article and/or bibliography -- and making sure the target remains valid as time passes also is a major haystack of details.
--tj On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 10:30 PM, Russell Standish <[email protected]>wrote: > On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 10:05:52PM -0700, Bruce Sherwood wrote: > > Ruth has been on the board of two physics journals, one conventional > > and the other like what I described. She tells me that the main costs > > are associated with servers (which surprised me), with formatting, and > > with salaries. > > Outsourcing webservers is of the order of $100 per year. I don't > understand that comment either. > > With formatting, well authors do send stuff in in Microsoft Word or > other such rubbish. My model was that authors could submit in LaTeX > already done in the journal style (with supplied .sty and .bst files > provided), which would require fairly minimal processing by the > editor, or they could pay to have it typeset in LaTeX - something in > the region of a couple of hundred bucks for the privelege to submit in > Microsoft Word. > > Also, if the English was not up to snuff, the authors would be > directed towards a service like Online English > (http://www.oleng.com.au). > > OK - I could imagine a busier journal might cost of the order of > $100-200K pa to run, but something the size of Artificial Life (or for > the matter Complexity International) should be doable for around the > $20K pa mark. > > Actually, given that Artificial Life publishes around 20 articles per > year, then the cost per paper would be around the $1000 mark, if > you're doing full cost recovery. I could imagine that formatting and > editing would add to that if you're offering those services. > > Cheers > > > > > In the case of the on-line physics journal for which readers pay > > nothing and authors pay $2000 per paper, server and related costs are > > quite significant because of the requirement to ensure that papers be > > available essentially in perpetuity, with some budget even for future > > required format changes as the technology changes. Moreover, this > > journal sits in an environment of physics journals that must share a > > portal for easy access by libraries. It's a fairly complex ecosystem. > > > > For a professional journal, it is considered highly important that all > > papers have the same format -- the same look and feel. The formatting > > is done outside, by contract with a company that does this sort of > > thing. > > > > Salaries include a full-time secretary who receives submissions and > > sends out invitations to reviewers, overseen by an editor who is a > > physicist and gets part of his/her salary paid (because it takes a lot > > of time). > > > > The operation apparently about breaks even. > > > > Of course if the issue is simply that you want to put on your personal > > web site some pdfs that friends have sent you, with no commitment that > > the web site will exist next year, the costs are close to zero. > > > > Bruce > > > > On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 11:09 AM, Nicholas Thompson > > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Bruce, > > > > > > Would you be willing to get into the weeds a bit about what those > costs are? > > > My imagination is failing me, here. > > > > > > Nick > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf > > > Of Bruce Sherwood > > > Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 12:48 PM > > > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group > > > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Elsevier — my part in its downfall « Gowers's > Weblog > > > > > > There are real costs that someone must pay. A promising approach > adopted by > > > some physics journals is to have the authors pay, with readers having > free > > > access. NSF considers author publication fees a reasonable part of > doing > > > business, and physicists are including these costs in grant proposals. > In > > > some cases there are "scholarships" for truly needy submitters. > > > > > > Bruce > > > > ============================================================ > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > -- > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) > Principal, High Performance Coders > Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] > University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > -- ========================================== J. T. Johnson Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA<http://www.analyticjournalism.com> 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) http://www.jtjohnson.com [email protected] ==========================================
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