As has already been discussed, journals have real costs that can be
covered *either* by charging readers *or* by charging writers.
Scientific publications general have *optional* page charges, which of
course few people pay. But they could easily switch to requiring them.
Such a switch would be "cost neutral" for scholars overall: what is now
spent on reading charges would instead be spent on writing charges.
There would be some cost shifting for individuals: prolific authors
would see their costs rise relative to others'. This seems quite
reasonable, as the prolific authors are likely to be the ones getting
grants, which they can use to fund their authoring. One might worry
that this is a deterrent to publication. But on the flip side, it
removes a deterrent to reading others' work; I'm not going to guess
whether we net a gain or a loss. Making publication cost something
might reduce the prevalence of low-quality publication, which would be a
big win for all---I think we're much better off filtering at the source
than forcing our readers to weed out the junk.
Author charges are also much easier to manage than reader charges: they
are a single, predictable large sum that can be set to what is necessary
to cover the cost of publication *at the time of publication*, as
opposed to reader charges which must be set based on speculation about
the number of readers of an article.
On 5/22/2012 11:01 PM, Richard Jensen wrote:
Piotr says "Let me repeat: editors, authors and reviewers are not
paid" That's completely false. They are all paid professional
salaries by their home universities, and the kind of work they do is
counted in terms of getting jobs, promotions, pay raises and tenure.
Furthermore for the authors of the articles published and books being
reviewed, the coverage they get in the journals is a major factor in
their own getting jobs and promotions. That is how the American
system works.
Indiana U sponsors a number of major journals and they are very
pleased indeed with the international recognition this brings.
Why so many highly skilled professionals are required is a matter of
quality control. Th Journal of American history accepts only 20% of
the history books submitted for review, and publishes only 10% of the
articles submitted.
Yes you can buy cheap "natural cures" for what ails you as recommended
by a friend, or you can pay $$$ for prescriptions written by a real MD
and prepared by a real pharmaceutical company. It's the same with
scholarship.
Richard Jensen
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