---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 19:36:56 -0400
From: Albert Henderson <NobleStation@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: IOP & author fees for publishing (Joanna Tousley-Escalante)

on 28 Sep 2000 Joanna Tousley-Escalante <J.Tousley@IAEA.ORG> wrote:

> I believe that I may have missed out on discussions concerning the IOP and
> possibly other similar publishers who have recently presented a new online
> publishing model of charging authors to be published rather than selling
> subscriptions.
>
> I copy here a description of the new IOP online journal - New Journal of
> Physics.
>
> " New Journal of Physics (NJP) is a peer-reviewed, all-electronic journal
> publishing original research in all areas of physics. The journal's Editors
> and staff are committed to building NJP into the leading scientific journal
> in its field by publishing articles of outstanding scientific quality that
> merit the attention and  interest of all physicists. NJP is available
> without charge to readers around the  world via the Internet. NJP is funded
> by article charges from authors of published papers. "
>
> I would appreciate some feedback on the quality of this journal and it's
> reception, if possible.   Some staff here suspect that this approach may be
> open to potential degradation of physics literature, and that the amount of
> literature published in this manner will be small.
>
> I would appreciate some views and comments from others who have already
> examined this question and have either decided that the model is sound [for
> what reasons] or that it is not workable [for what reasons]

        Some U.S. journals have subsidized their operations
        by billing authors for "page charges" under rules
        required by the U.S. government that publication
        not be contingent upon payment. The American
        Institute of Physics annual reports indicated they
        had decreased their page charge rates and balanced
        the lost income by raising library rates. I believe
        their interest was to attract more papers from
        researchers not willing to pay so much.

        In fact it is the institution that makes the payment,
        usually charging a grant fund. In 1968, PHYSICS TODAY
        recorded great dismay that the universities had not
        been making their payments and the publishers were
        in the red. These are the same universities that
        have cut libraries' share of spending by half in the
        last 30 years.

        You will find a short article and a substantial
        bibliography on the subject in PUBLISHING RESEARCH
        QUARTERLY 14,4 1998/99.

Albert Henderson
Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY 1994-2000
<70244.1532@compuserve.com>