A new report published today identifies options through which funders can help
ensure that the rapidly growing open access market delivers high quality
services and value-for-money for the research community.
The report, which was commissioned by a consortium of major research funders*,
is intended to stimulate discussion and debate among funders and other
stakeholders who are committed to ensuring free and open access to the
published outputs of research.
Over recent years, a growing number of funders across the world have introduced
open access policies requiring that peer-reviewed articles resulting from the
research that they support are made freely available to access and re-use. In
turn, an increasing number of journals are providing an option to authors
whereby, in return for a fee known as an article processing charge (APC),
papers are made openly available immediately on publication. Some journals
(known as 'full open access journals') operate exclusively through this model,
whereas other journals ('hybrids') allow individual papers to be made open
access while other papers are only accessible through subscription. Several
funders have started to make dedicated funds available to pay APCs.
However, these developments have sparked some concerns over rising costs during
a transitional period in which both APCs and subscriptions are paid, and
whether the future market for APCs would be transparent and functional.
This new report, authored by Professor Bo-Christer Björk of the Hanken School
of Economics, Finland, and Professor David Solomon of Michigan State
University, USA, sets out to examine the potential risks associated with the
APC open access market, and begins to explore how they could be addressed. It
is important to acknowledge that there are other routes to open access (see
below), but this study focused specifically on the APC market.
The economic analyses undertaken provided a strong indication that the full
open access journal market was is functioning well in creating pressure for
journals to moderate the price of APCs. On the other hand, however, the current
hybrid market was found to be extremely dysfunctional, with significantly
higher charges and low levels of uptake. Indeed, the average APC in a hybrid
journal was almost twice that for a born-digital full open access journal
($2,727 compared to $1,418).
Based on their findings, the authors developed a series of scenarios for the
full open access and hybrid markets. They then undertook a more detailed
analysis of the opportunities and risks associated with three scenarios which
they judged to hold the greatest potential.
* Scenario 1: funders would only reimburse APCs for hybrid journals
which had systems in place to ensure institutions which paid these received
equivalent reductions on subscription payments.
* Scenario 2: funders could adopt a 'value-based pricing' model in which
they would set tiered caps for the maximum payment they would contribute toward
an APC for a particular journal based on the quality of the services it
provides to authors.
* Scenario 3: funders would pay a set proportion of an APC if the price
exceeded a certain threshold.
The report does not recommend a single approach, but rather that funders,
universities and other stakeholders involved in open access consider and adapt
these possible models depending on their individual needs and goals.
Robert Kiley, Head of Digital Services at the Wellcome Trust, said: "We hope
this report, which is both authoritative and innovative, will spark widespread
discussion and debate. In supporting this work, we as funders have signalled
our commitment to ensuring the future open access market delivers value for
money and meets needs of the research community."
Tony Peatfield, RCUK Policy lead on open access, said: "This report is a timely
and valuable addition to the evidence base, as funders around the world push
for free and unrestricted access to research publications. It will be a key
input to the planned review of the implementation of RCUK's open access policy
later this year."
The report (published under a CC-BY licence) can be downloaded from:
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/About-us/Policy/Spotlight-issues/Open-access/Guides/WTP054773.htm
*The report was commissioned by the Wellcome Trust, Research Councils UK, Jisc,
Research Libraries UK, the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), the FNR (Luxembourg)
and the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics.
Robert Kiley
Head of Digital Services
Wellcome Library
183, Euston Road, London. NW1 2BE
Tel: 020 7611 8338; Fax: 020 7611 8703; mailto:[email protected]
Library Web site: http://wellcomelibrary.org
The Wellcome Trust is a charity, registered in England, no. 210183. Its sole
Trustee is the Wellcome Trust Limited, a company registered in England, no
2711000, whose registered office is 215 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE.
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