News & Views: Open Access Charges – A Market Slowly Maturing - Delta Think

"Over the last few years changes in numbers of journals have been less pronounced. Our samples suggest that for the major publishers, on average:

• The number of hybrid journals has continued to increase, typically by a low single-digit percent.
• Amongst the largest publishers, the number of fully OA journals has decreased (again by a low single-digit percent), while mid-sized publishers increased their numbers of fully OA journals.
• This appears to be due to changes in line up of publishers’ portfolios (e.g., transfers) rather than fully OA “flipping” to hybrid.

Prices Show No Dramatic Changes

• Maximum APCs this year have fallen slightly to $5,200 from $5,300 for non-discounted, CC BY charges. With one exception last year, this maximum has not changed over the last four years, so the top end of the market appears to be holding steady.
• Business model is no predictor the highest prices, with both hybrid and fully OA journals asking the highest prices in different market segments.
• At the lower end of the market, fully OA journal APCs are less expensive than hybrid, and falling. In this segment, hybrid journal APCs have increased.
• Overall average hybrid APCs are largely holding steady and saw only the smallest of increases (less than 1%) over the last few years.
• Contrast this with fully OA average APCs, which have been rising slowly but surely: up around 10% over the last four years and up by around 4% in the last year or so...."